Jarawa 'Circus' Boomerangs
By Zubair Ahmed
With the arrest of three poachers from Kadamtala
under PAT Regulation, 1956, a new modern-day Enmei myth has been busted. It was
widely reported in local and national media that a group of ten Jarawa youth out
of hunger and desperation had ventured out of the forest and met the Gram
Pradhan demanding food, school and a rendezvous with the Lieutenant Governor
and Deputy Commissioner. As per the report, they had a huge list of demands
ready.
As per the release issued by ANI Admn, on 03 Oct 2013,
10 Jarawas had reached Kadamtala Panchayat office demanding rice and eatables
besides meeting with govt. officials. As per enquiry conducted by AAJVS
authorities, some persons had gone into Jarawa habitat Hocha Botha (western
coast) and stayed for 02 days for hunting. Further, they provided the Jarawas
with rice, cooking oil and other eatables etc. instigated them to meet the
Pradhan for food and other items.
During investigation the accused persons namely
Maharaja Bala @ raja, Surender @ Surin and Rahul Mondal, all three residents of
Kadamtala, have been arrested. All three have been remanded to 14 days judicial
custody.
These persons were found to be habitual intruders
into the Jarawa Reserve Area and it is learnt that they used to supply
alcoholic substances to Jarawas.
However, the story does not end there. On 2 Oct
2013, Maharaja Bala, a blacksmith by profession and a regular poacher had
invited the Jarawas to his house, which is on the fringes of the Reserve. About
ten Jarawa youth instigated by Maharaja came to his house and stayed the whole
night. Maharaja, always wanted to sell his wares to Jarawas, and kept
instigating them against the quality of iron implements supplied by the Tribal
Welfare Department. He had also added a demand to their list saying that they
require the services of a blacksmith to repair their implements.
The Pradhan of the village, Sampat Kumar Roy too joined
them and tutored them what to say. According to reliable sources, both Maharaja
and Sampat had brought two bottles of liquor (On Gandhi Jayanti, a dry day) and
served the Jarawas. "Liquor will give you enough strength to be bold to
face the officers," they were reportedly told. Sampath had also asked them
not to budge to any kind of appeasement and not board any vehicle, if AAJVS
staff asked them to.
It is also learnt that two more poachers, Swapan
Biswas and Suresh were also accompanying the Jarawas on the night of 2 October.
Both of them are absconding.
Its intriguing why the Pradhan Sampath Kumar Roy, the
ringmaster of the circus has been let off. He is very vocal about mainstreaming
of Jarawas, which is not a crime, but he was also present at Maharaja's house,
that too with a bottle of liquor and tutored them how to perform in front of
the officers. Misled and misguided, the Jarawas parroted the lines taught to
them. It is also learnt that Jarawas have now realized their mistake and are
also on the lookout for the poachers, who misbehaved with them. "We will
beat them if we get them,' Affee, the Jarawa youth told the source.
There are many messiahs of the Jarawas who are in a
haste to bring them into the mainstream, for their own advantage. Speaking to
LOA, a senior anthropologist said that settlers have always felt Jarawa to be
an hindrance in their development and wants them to be settled in one of the
uninhabited Islands . "They are eyeing
their land and resources," he said.
The welfare of the Jarawas and their territory has
been entrusted to three agencies - AAJVS, Police and Forest Dept. In a seminar
organised by Anthropological Survey of India (ASI), Secretary Tribal Welfare
had mentioned that the Admn has already identified a few hotspots where
interactions and barters with the Jarawas take place. However, lack of proper
coordination between the three agencies have resulted in many such excesses in
the tribal reserves. A report by one of the Expert Committee on Jarawa Policy
had mentioned that rice has already found inroad into Jarawa lifestyle.
In Tirur, Wright Myo and Kadamtala, poachers
frequently venture into Jarawas Reserves for hunting deer and wild boars,
depleting their resource base. Recently, a Dinghi was captured in Wright Myo in
which forest dept seized about 8 deers - out which five were alive. Although,
the Dinghi was seized there were no arrests made. The modus operandi of the
forest beat staff is to let off the perpetrators and only seize the contraband.
Large scale timber poaching is also reported from all these areas. In another
incident which was reported by LOA, a group of forest staff who had ventured
into the Reserve to extract cane and ballies were ambushed by the Jarawas and
all their belongings were snatched.
Many such incidents are in the knowledge of forest
officials, but no action is ever taken. It is also learnt that the welfare
officers looking after the Jarawas have time and again reported about poachers
in villages who frequent the Reserve and set traps to catch wild boar and deer.
Recently, police had booked cases against fishermen
who were found fishing inside the Buffer Zone. Although, PAT regulations have
been made stringent, due to non-application, poachers freely carry out their
misdemeanors. PAT Regulation prescribes stringent punishment of imprisonment up
to 7 years.
Unless the hotspots are plugged properly and tight
watch on poachers in the villages increased, interaction between Jarawas and
Settlers cannot be checked. As of now, there are 408 Jarawas in Tirur, Middle Strait
It is very unfortunate that the villagers/settlers
living in the fringes of Tribal reserves are ignorant about the history and
lives of Jarawas. It is high time that knowledge about the tribes and their
rights to life, land and livelihood are incorporated in the school curriculum
so that at least the next generation does not carry the notion that the
so-called 'junglees' are a nuisance and hindrance in the march of progress and
development.
