Dear Friends,
As a continuation of the series that HT.com is doing on the situation In the
Andaman & Nicobar Islands, they are now carrying another set of articles in its
2nd part .

Pasted below is the first of these which can also be accessed at the
following link
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/andaman/scorder.html


SC ORDER FAILS TO BLOCK KILLER ROAD
by Pankaj Sekhsaria | Tuesday, November 11, 2003

The Jarawas have opposed it for three decades; environmentalists and
anthropologists believe it will bring doom to the Jarawas and the forests of
the islands; and the Supreme Court of the country, too, has ordered it shut.
This is about the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) that is slowly but surely pushing
into oblivion the Jarawas, one of the most threatened human communities in
the world today and the original inhabitants of the Andaman Islands.
The Jarawa is a small indigenous community of Negrito origin that has lived,
survived and flourished in the Andaman forests for at least 20,000 years.
Little is known of them, their history and origin; of how they live in the
forests, and what is their social structure. What is, however, known for
sure is that they are being pushed to the brink by insensitive policies and
interventions; typified, most significantly, by the construction and
continued operation of the ATR.
The ATR connects Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands to the northern most town of Diglipur located 340 kms away. In the
process it rips through the lands, the forests, and the very lives of the
Jarawas. This road has, over three decades, facilitated the destruction of
hundreds of sq kms of pristine evergreen forests that are critical for the
survival of the Jarawa; it has sustained the rapacious timber industry here
for decades; it has forcefully taken away from them their forests and
traditional homelands; it has brought them disease and death and is even now
bringing into their lives the worst of vices that includes tobacco, gutka,
alcohol and now, reportedly, even sexual exploitation of their women.
In May 2002, the Supreme Court of India passed a set of landmark orders
related to the islands, offering an opportunity in the interests of its
fragile environment and threatened communities such as the Jarawa that live
here. According to one of these orders, that part of the ATR that runs
through or along the forests of the Jarawa, the Jarawa Reserve, was to be
closed to all traffic within three months. That should have been August
2002.
One can understand the neglect of the will of the Jarawa and the opinion of
a bunch of environmentalists. There is little, however, to explain how and
why a Supreme Court order passed in May 2002 still remains unimplemented
even today, more than a year after the deadline for its implementation has
passed.
The Jarawas continue to be subjected to innumerable, untold risks as the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands' administration keeps the road be open and
allows traffic on it. A historical opportunity to protect the Jarawa and
ensure their long term survival is being willfully let off and sadly, its
happening with continued disregard for the wishes of the apex court of the
country!

[Pankaj Sekhsaria is the author of the book 'Troubled Islands - Writings on
the indigenous peoples and environment of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands']





C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gymkhana,
Pune 411004
India
Tel: + 91 20 5654239 / 5675450
Fax: 5654239
Email: pankajs@...

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gymkhana,
Pune 411004
India
Tel: + 91 20 5654239 / 5675450
Fax: 5654239
Email: pankajs@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]