Dear Friends,
From the latest issue of Outlook Traveller (June 2004)

PARADISE LOST?

by Pankaj Sekhsaria


Islands of great beauty, home to the finest rainforests, silver beaches, and
sparkling oceans teeming with life-the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have
expectedly been earmarked for large-scale tourism promotion and development.
The ideas and plans are coming thick and fast. The range of interested
players is increasing by leaps and bounds and, yes, the chartered flights
too have started landing on the recently extended runway in Port Blair. The
future might be shining and beckoning, but (there is always a but) the moot
question is this-what is this going to be based on? The promises are all
very well. But who will deliver? What do we have to base all this hope and
confidence on; in addition I mean, to all the glib talk and glossy brochures
promoting tourism?
The difficulty of accessing the islands has ensured that tourism in the
Andamans is still in the nascent stage. Plans are afoot to develop the
islands on the 'Phuket model'. Phuket in nearby Thailand is one of those
well-known tourist destinations that has come to be associated with tropical
forests, beautiful beaches and extensive coral reefs, very much like the
Andamans. It is also associated with the worst kind of drug-and-sex tourism.
It is to Phuket that many point, when asked to illustrate how tourism should
not be developed, how tourism can ravage the people, environment and economy
of the place it descends upon.
And yet, the single most significant policy initiative of the local
administration in the last couple of years has been to twin Port Blair with
Phuket. The administration first thought this up about a decade ago.
Concerns had been raised and the efforts appeared to have been laid to rest.
That we choose to learn from and associate with Phuket is a clear indicator
that the first step itself is pointed in a problematic direction.
Another major problem on these islands is the acute water shortage. Even
though the islands receive an average rainfall of 3,000 mm every year, in
the dry season, when the tourists start to come, the water problem begins.
By the time the tourist season is over, and the tourists have gone, the
problem becomes a nightmare. In May, earlier this year, citizens of Port
Blair were getting piped water for an hour once every three days. Though the
tourism industry is not directly to blame for this, the situation is
appalling by any standards. There are many reasons for this. Important among
these is the fact that the population of the islands has multiplied
significantly in the last few years. From roughly 60,000 people in the
1960s, it has skyrocketed and is estimated to be about 5,00,000 today. These
islands simply do not have the capacity to provide for so many people.
The migration of people from the mainland to the islands also continues and
the administration refuses to do anything about this. It's a crisis that
grows with every passing year. The same administration also intends to leave
no stone unturned to get in more tourists to these islands. The question
again-how will it ensure that people of the islands in general and Port
Blair in particular then do not suffer for water because the tourists cannot
be left high and dry?
The Andaman Islands are well known as the home of the ancient peoples of
negrito origin like the Onge and the Jarawa. The history of development
policies in these islands is one of the continued violation and exploitation
of these tribal communities. Fortunately there is no overt move on the part
of the administration to develop 'tribal tourism' as is being promoted in
other parts of the country. What is developing, however, is a very perverse
kind of opportunity-driven tourism by the small-time tour operators in the
islands, that leads to objectification and exploitation of these people.
While the administration is in principle opposed to this, the fact of the
matter is that little can be done in the context of the prevalent attitudes
and policy framework. Increased tourism in the islands is bound to have its
spill-over effect in this area as well, seriously endangering the integrity
of the tribal people and their settlements.
The intention, nevertheless, is not to discourage tourism or the efforts of
the administration. An attempt to articulate concern should not be
understood as opposition. If these fundamental issues, these first
principles are not dealt with, the edifice that is being built is likely to
suffer, if not collapse even before it is fully ready. l
(The author, a member of environmental NGO Kalpavriksha, has been working
in the Andamans for the last five years.)

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