The local administration of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have started Covid-19 testing of Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) like Onge and Jarawas, in the wake of reports about a spate of cases among the ten Great Andamanese tribes, six out of whom have fully recovered.
The Chief Secretary, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chetan Sanghi, tweeted, “Primitive Vulnerable Tribes are all safe. Every precaution taken to protect this heritage of humanity. Rumours cause more damage than the Pandemic.”
The Onge tribes are confined to Dugong Creek (earmarked for them) and not considered ‘un-contacted’ like Sentinelese who live in North Sentinel Island.
Onges are semi-nomadic and used to be fully dependent on hunting and gathering for food but now the local administration provides them ration and clothes. Not habitual to clothes, the tribe is steadily and slowly adopting the habit.
Dr Avijit Roy, Nodal officer of COVID-19 at the archipelago, said, “Under the guidance of our Chief Secretary Mr Chetan Sanghi, we are working round the clock for the safety of all people living in the Islands. I would like to request all the Islanders to follow the safety norms.”
“There is good news as ten out of six Great Andamanese are fully recovered and rest four are asymptomatic. They are responding well to medication and they will be released soon,” he said.
Asked about testing of other Vulnerable Tribal Groups, he said that 35 ‘Onge’ tribes at Dugong Creek village had already been tested, and the results were negative. “We have a dedicated medical team deployed at ‘Health and Wellness Centre’ at the Dugong Creek village in Little Andaman. One ‘Onge’ woman, working as an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), is assisting our team.”
He said that apart from the Onge tribe, coronavirus testing was also to be undertaken on the Jarawa tribe at four hotspots in tribal reserve areas from Friday. He added that the Onge tribe had responded well to their medical team, and were happy with the proceedure.
Over the years, since the establishment of ‘penal settlement’ in 1858 by the British, the population of primitive tribes like Onge, Jarawa, Shompen, Great Andamanese, and the Sentinelese were decimated due to various reasons. This included an epidemic, after the tribes had come in contact with British soldiers.
Presently the PVTGs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have reduced to nearly 59 in case of Great Andamanese; about 238 in case of Shompen tribes, and Jarawa are nearly 520 in numbers while Onges and Sentinelese are approximately 120 and 50 in numbers, respectively.
Earlier, SA Awaradi, former director tribal welfare and Andaman and Nicobar Tribal Research Institute, Port Blair, had said, “There is a need to ramp up initiatives to prevent interaction of tribal community people with the non-tribal. All tribes should be sent to their earmarked Islands. In case of Great Andamanese, they should be sent to Strait Islands after proper testing.”
“A detailed plan for the welfare of the tribal was already drafted when I was in the department. There is a basic argument that tribes came out from their territory and interacted with the non-tribal. To prevent this, we have decided to provide their needs in their territory with the help of experts. We have also planned mobile medical unit vans and boats to help them in case of medical cases,” he said.
Awaradi stressed that under the COVID-19 pandemic, utmost care should be taken to save these Vulnerable Tribal Groups, as Andaman had already faced four pandemics in the past, since the ‘penal settlement’ system, which had led to the mass deaths of tribals.
“The Island should be completely free from this virus. Since penal settlement in 1858 by the British, the
population of primitive tribes like Onge, Jarawa, Shompen, Great Andamanese, Onge and the Sentinelese were decimated due to syphilis, influenza, measles, and gonorrhoea like epidemics. Then, they came in contact with the British and got infected. This pandemic is worse than the previous ones and the matter of concern is these tribal people are more prone to get infected due to poor immune systems,” he said.
Awaradi worked extensively for the tribal welfare in Andamans and he was the first to visit the North Sentinel Island on January 4, 1991 and was the first to establish contact with the Sentinelese.
Comments
0 comment