Pankaj Sekhsaria’s recent book Islands in flux--The Andaman and Nicobar Story
is a collection of around 20 years of his writings on the environmental
and conservation concerns faced by the indigenous tribal communities of
the region. Unlike his previous book, The last wave, a factual
fiction adventure story dealing with love, longing and loss, this one
is a collection of contemporary developments in the islands. The book is
divided into seven parts and several chapters each dealing with the
societal and ecological facets of the islands. Issues related to the
environment, wildlife conservation and development policies that
threaten the island’s indigenous communities have been chronicled by the
author who is a long-time member of the NGO, Kalpavriksh.
Alienation of islanders
The book begins with the section, Setting the context,
in which he writes about the history of the alienation of the island
communities living there for over 40,000 years. The author takes a dig
at the history writers of the modern democratic Indian state who have
left gaping holes in their writings by not sudying the ancient
indigenous communities--the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa and
the Sentinelese. It is here that the author mentions “if the real and
complete history of the islands is ever written, the British would not
be more than a page and India could only be a paragraph”.
The indigenous people have been systematically alienated
from their resources by the British colonial policies and the
post-colonial development-oriented policies of India. The Britishers set
up a penal colony in the islands in 1858, the Japanese occupied the
islands during the World War II, and during the post colonial period,
thousands of settlers from mainland India were brought to the island.
Though the islanders put up a fierce fight to defend their territories,
the social fabric of the island communities has been violently torn
apart and their populations decimated while the settlers outnumbered the
original inhabitants. The region is witness to nation building
exercises, hinduisation of ‘uncivilized junglees’ and even an attempt to
rename the islands. The author calls this as an attempt to “reclaim
what was never yours”. No effort has been made by way of scholarship or
historical studies to take the islanders’ point of view.
Forestry is the chief source of revenue in cash in the
islands but the system of forestry did not suit the region. The author
quotes an official report by the Department of Environment, Government
of India that argues that “the forestry system was leading to a
preponderance of deciduous elements in the evergreen system that would
eventually destroy the whole island ecosystem”. The carrying capacity of
the islands has been long exceeded, the author says. Ill-conceived
schemes like cattle rearing were introduced for a community that does
not consume milk. Tourism is a concern in the islands which have been
declared as ‘global biodiversity hotspot’.
The pristine forests and the Jarawa tribal reserve that
cover half the island are under threat because of the ill-conceived
Andaman Trunk Road that separates the reserve land from the rest of the
island. The Jarawas for whom the forests have been home for ages have
been reduced to begging around the Trunk Road that runs through the
reserve. The road has been controversial due to the negative fallouts on
the island’s ecology and the indigenous people. The Supreme Court had
in 2002 passed an order to close it; the island administration chose to
ignore it. Its closure was absolutely critical to protect the Jarawa
community, the author says.
Islands turn colonies
The author chronicles the 'colonising of the islands' in a
chapter of the same name and discusses how the settlers look down upon
the indigenous communities. Tension continues between the tribal
communities, especially the ancient tribal community of Jarawas, and the
settlers over land rights and there is a lack of political will to ease
this even as the population of the Jarawas has been reduced to a few
hundreds. “There are opinions that the Jarawas should be assimilated
into the modern world, but it is clear that it is exactly this contact
with the outside world that is rapidly pushing them towards the brink,”
the author states.
In the chapter, A brief history of logging,
Sekhsaria provides an account of the timber operations in the Andamans.
He notes how as a part of India’s colonisation scheme, mainlanders were
settled here. This was done to strengthen India’s claim over the
islands. Incentives were offered to settlers by way of land and royalty
free timber. The timber-based industry was promoted and liberal
subsidies offered. Forests were exploited to benefit settlers who had
little stake in the islands or its natural resources. Timber offered for
millions decreased after the 2002 Supreme Court order. The order was in
response to a petition by three NGOs to stop logging. The Supreme Court
orders that banned the cutting of naturally grown trees in the Andamans
and Nicobar islands were welcomed by the environmental rights groups.
But logging continued within the tribal reserve.
In the section, Environment, ecology and development,
the author stresses the need for evolving sensible conservation
policies. The author discusses the consequences of introducing exotic
species into the island systems. This has led to an irretrievable loss
of native species and ecosystems. “The Andaman and Nicobar islands are
unsurpassed in their botanical wealth, and the ethnomedical knowledge of
the tribals who live here is astounding,” he says.
In the section, December 2004 and its aftermath,
the author discusses the turmoil caused by the tsunami of December 26,
2004, which killed around 3500 people in the fragile Andaman and Nicobar
islands, the worst hit area in India. The tectonic activity due to the
third deadliest earthquake of the world in the last 100 years caused a
significant shift in the islands’ geography with a permanent average
uplift of four to six feet while parts of Nicobar islands went
significantly under, with the southernmost tip, Indira point on Great
Nicobar island going 15 ft down. Apart from dealing with how the tsunami
destroyed the island, the section also highlights how the people picked
up the pieces and started all over again.
Leave them alone
The tsunami waters inundated large areas of the islands
causing damage to its coastal and marine ecology. In the aftermath of
this turmoil, ecologists have suggested ‘no intervention’ and that
‘leaving areas alone should be the preferred management option’. A
disturbing facet of the islands in recent times is its water scarcity.
The islands have been facing severe water shortages even during the
pre-tsunami period but this got worse after 2004. Fresh water sources
got hit by the tsunami.
Talking about the faulty development planning, the author
discusses how the former president late Abdul Kalam in 2005 in the
aftermath of the tsunami announced a grandiose vision for the
development of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. This included
ecologically perilous components like deep sea fishing, exploitation of
bamboo, value-added coconut products and tourism.
A central thread of Sekhsaria’s book has been the neglect and
acculturation of the Jarawas, and their losing scuffle with the
outsiders. The book presented in a journalistic manner handles the issue
very sensitively and the author exhibits a keen understanding of the
history of the indigenous people and its ecology.
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The book is available now In stores across the country and also on amazon (print and kindle): http://bit.ly/IslandsInFlux
#andaman #nicobar #islandsinflux #thelastwave
