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| The Hindu Newspaper Editorial Vocabulary : 28-November-2018 |
Lessons from a tragedy
The indigenous communities and settlers in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands must be equal stakeholders in a common future
The tragic death of a young American adventurer
in the protected “tribal reserve” of North Sentinel Island in the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands archipelago
has triggered global media interest in the region once again. Much of the
debates on the alleged killing of John Allen Chau by “hostile” islanders remains
focused on the intent, circumstances and tragic upshot of his misadventure,
while others raise larger and more disturbing questions about the North
Sentinel tribal community at large and the efficacy of the Indian government’s tribal
welfare policies. The first set of debates regarding Chau’s evangelical
calling and his almost willing surrender to the hazards it entailed are not of interest to
us at this moment nor are the details of the investigations that are being
carried out by the local police and administration.
Understanding ‘hostility’
What is of greater significance is the commentary
on the “hostility” of the Sentinel islanders and the many experiences of heroic
“contact” by visiting anthropologists and government officials. The broader
media interest is in the peculiar and almost brutal hostility displayed by the
Sentinel islanders towards the outsider. Some see it as signs of a pathological
“primitivity”
and the result of “complete isolation” from “civilisation” while others
interpret it as an effect of the historical memory of colonial brutality. Given
the fact that we do not know their language nor have had any opportunity to
understand their varied gestures of hostility, it’s hard to come to any
definitive answer.
But it is the question of “isolation” that
demands more critical attention. We are not entirely sure if it can be
established that the Sentinelese, or the “Sentinel Jarawas” as they were
classified in colonial records, were or are completely isolated. Both colonial
records and Census reports up to 1931 reveal that officials did set foot on
the islands and were able to walk through it to collect information. The
Government of India’s own official “contact” photographs from the 1970s onwards
reveal interesting signs that question the “complete isolation” thesis.
If we carefully analyse this visual record, we
can see how the shape of Sentinelese outrigger canoes has changed and how they
continue to use large quantities of iron to make adze blades and arrowheads. We
also notice small glass bead necklaces around their necks. Where are these
glass beads, trinkets,
large tarpaulin sheets and ready supplies of iron coming from?
Different images
Images of angry Sentinelese pointing at or
shooting arrows at a passing helicopter or at the sight of an incoming boat abound in the
media. Yet while these images remain in constant circulation, there are other
images of them receiving coconuts, bananas and other gifts from government
contact parties. Out of the Anthropological Survey of India’s recorded 26
visits to the islands, it is stated that seven were met with overt
hostility. In other words, the argument that the hostility of the Sentinelese
is chronic
or pathological needs to be seen in perspective. Evidently the Sentinel
Islanders decide what kind of visitations pose a threat to their survival or
dignity and what are “safe” or “useful”. Their hostility towards the outsider
is then to be regarded as “strategic” and deliberate and therefore key to their
survival.
Some have asked why the Indian state cannot
devise a method by which the Sentinelese could be “pacified” and brought under the
welfare net. It goes to the credit of the Indian government that unlike
its colonial
predecessors it has completely abjured all kinds of coercion against the indigenous
communities of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Colonial punitive expeditions,
kidnappings, forced confinements that devastated the Andamanese
populations at large are a thing of the past. Tribal welfare policy in
the islands remains committed to protection and clearly “pacification” via
coercion is no option. The policy today is to ensure “protection” but also to accept
their right to self-determination.
Nuancing ‘protection’
Yet here’s where the problem begins. Policies of
“protection” demand strong surveillance infrastructures, empowered staff, coordination
among police, forest and welfare agencies and, more importantly, investment in
projects of sensitisation.
The settler
population on the islands clearly remains conflicted. There is an understanding
that the islands’ indigenous communities are sources of tourist interest and
potential revenue
churners, yet the fact that public monies are invested to sustain
them in their habitats remain a source of discomfort. Apart from a small
segment of progressive citizens, there are clear marks of stress in
settler-indigene relations on the islands.
It is tensions like these that allow collusive
breaches of the law and the undermining of the protective cover for the
Sentinelese and other Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) like the
Jarawas. What aggravates
such tensions are the skewed developmental priorities that mainland
India imposes on these islands.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have historically
been treated as terra nullius, or empty space, wherein
mainland governments could inscribe their authority and initiate projects of
control. The British initiated these projects treating the islands first as a
strategic outpost and then a penal colony. The Indian government gave it a
free society but used it as a space to settle its “excess” population. Hence
the refugee rehabilitation schemes in the post-Partition years. It is this
resettlement of the islands in independent India that demanded a renegotiation
of its relations with the Islands’ indigenous communities. They had to be
protected and cared for but moved out of their original forest habitats into
newly designated “tribal reserves”. As a result of continuous settlement and
often ill-conceived
developmental projects on the islands over the past six decades, these reserves
have become increasingly vulnerable to the intrusions of poachers, encroachers and
tourists.
Looking ahead
We hope that we will be able to draw a few
lessons from the unfortunate death of John Allen Chau and question the ways in
which mainland India views the islands from its distant perch in New Delhi. We can only
hope that the Prime Minister’s forthcoming
visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the announcement of new projects
for “holistic” development take a context-sensitive “island view” of
development and recognise settlers and PVTGs as equal stakeholders in a common
sustainable future.
01. Indigenous (adjective) – native/local,
original, domestic.
02. Stakeholder (noun) – a person with an interest
in something.
03. Archipelago (noun) – a group of (small)
islands closely scattered in a body of water.
04. Hostile (adjective) – aggressive, unfriendly,
belligerent.
05. Upshot (noun) – result, consequence,
outcome/effect.
06. Misadventure (noun) – mishap, misfortune,
catastrophe; unfortunate event.
07. Efficacy (noun) – effectiveness, efficiency,
power/ability to give estimated results.
08. Evangelical (adjective) – missionary,
converting, propagandist.
09. Entailed (verb) – cause, result in, produce.
10. Pathological (adjective) –
compulsive/habitual, obsessive/chronic, unreasonable/irrational.
11. Primitivity (noun) – undevelopedness,
immatureness, rudimentariness.
12. Set foot on (phrase) – enter, come into, move
in.
13. Outrigger canoes (noun) – a seagoing canoe (a
light, narrow paddling boat) having one or more lateral support floats to
provide stability.
14. Trinkets (noun) – inexpensive household
ornament, gimcrack/cheap ornaments.
15. Abound in (verb) – be full of, overflow with,
have in large numbers.
16. Overt (adjective) – obvious, noticeable,
observable.
17. Chronic (adjective) – persistent, long-term,
continuing (or happening again and again for a long time).
18. Deliberate (adjective) – intentional,
considered, predetermined.
19. Pacified (verb) – calm down, soothe, relax.
20. Credit (noun) – commendation, acclaim, praise.
21. Predecessors (noun) – precursor, forerunner,
antecedent.
22. Abjured (verb) – renounce, relinquish, reject.
23. Coercion (noun) – force, pressure,
enforcement.
24. Punitive (adjective) – harsh/severe,
stringent; corrective/retributive.
25. Confinements (noun) – custody, imprisonment,
restraint.
26. A thing of the past (phrase) – something no
longer exists/happens.
27. Nuancing (verb) – distinct/differ subtly.
28. Empowered (adjective) – authorized, allowed,
entitled.
29. Sensitisation (noun) – a quality to be
reactive/responsive to something.
30. Settler (noun) – colonist, immigrant,
habitant.
31. Revenue churners (noun) – a measure of the
lost revenue.
32. Monies (noun) – plural form of money.
33. Collusive (adjective) – tricky,
illegal/immoral, conniving.
34. Aggravates (verb) – worsen/make worse,
exacerbate, compound.
35. Skewed (adjective) – asymmetrical,
misaligned/lopsided, partisan.
36. Terra nullius (noun) – Latin meaning “nobody’s
land”; empty land; land not legally belonging to anyone.
37. Penal colony (noun) – a colonial territory
used (mainly) for the detention, deportees & forced labour.
38. Ill-conceived (adjective) – absurd,
ridiculous, not carefully planned.
39. Intrusions (noun) – encroachment,
violation/infringement, infiltration.
40. Poachers (noun) – hunter, trespasser,
intruder.
41. Looking ahead (phrase verb) – to think about
what will happen in the future.
42. Perch (noun) – position, vantage point,
viewpoint/standpoint (perch- sitting on tip/edge of something).
43. Forthcoming (adjective) – imminent, impending,
nearing.
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