Updated: August 28, 2020 9:26:25 pm
Fishermen and women return to their homes in Port Blair, in the archipelago of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. (AP Photo: Aijaz Rahi, file)
Nine members of the waning The Great Andamanese tribe has tested positive for Covid-19, sounding the alarms in the Union Territory. While the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have so far recorded 2,985 new coronavirus cases, 676 of which are active, it is the first time that cases have been reported from among the five particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) living on the islands.
Besides Great Andamanese, the other four PVTGs are Jarawas, Onges, Sentinelese, and Shorn Pen. Among the five, the Great Andamanese are the only ones who visit and live in the capital city of Port Blair frequently. PVTGs are communities that are most vulnerable among tribal groups, and the government of India places them in a special category.
While five of the nine infected Great Andamanese are residents of Port Blair, another four live on the remote Strait Island that is reserved for the tribe.
Who are the great Andamanese?
Anthropologists classify the Great Andamanese as part of the Negrito tribes that inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Linguists Anju Saxena and Lars Borin, in their book ‘Lesser-Known Languages of South Asia: Status and Policies, Case Studies and Applications of Information Technology’, write that “recent studies by geneticists indicate that the Andamanese are possibly related to the Negritos of the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines ”.
Originally, the Great Andamanese were ten distinct tribes, including the Jeru, Bea, Bo, Khora, and Pockiwar, each with their own separate language. In 1788, when the British first tried to colonize the islands, the Great Andamanese numbered between 5,000 and 8,000. However, several members of the tribe died in encounters with the British to protect their territories. Later, many were wiped out in epidemics brought by the colonizers, such as measles, syphilis, and influenza.
After the mutiny of 1857, the British government sent thousands of mutineers to life imprisonment in the Andamans. A penal colony was established for this purpose. The new phase of settlement resulted in the deaths of many Great Andamanese who succumbed to disease and imperialist policies.
“In the 1860s, the British established a ‘House of Andaman’ where they held Greater Andamanese. Hundreds of members of the tribe died from illness and abuse at home, and of the 150 babies born there, none survived beyond two years, ”says a report by Survival International, which is an organization of human rights campaigning for tribal rights. .
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By 1901, the population of the Great Andamanese had dropped to 625. By the 1930s, the number had dropped even more than 100. In 1970, the Indian government relocated the remaining Great Andamanese to the Strait Island. At present, only about 59 members of the community survive: 34 live on the Strait Island, the rest in Port Blair.
The language of the Great Andamanese, Sare, has been largely lost, and the last surviving speaker died earlier this year. The tribe now mainly speaks Hindi.
“The main factors contributing to the population decline of the Great Andamans include environmental ‘disturbances’, contagious diseases resulting from contact with city dwellers, and a high death rate assisted by addictions to alcohol, tobacco and opium.” write Saxena and Borin.
Unlike the other PVTGs in the Andamans, the Great Andamanese are in contact with the general population as they visit Port Blair frequently, making them more vulnerable to Covid-19.
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