Have four Jarawa children died in Andaman due to a 'medical oversight'?

Pic of Jarawa: Survival International

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Dhanya Rajendran| The News Minute| October 23, 2014|

The Jarawa is an indigenous tribe of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, a tribe that is believed to have lived in the islands for up to 55,000 years.

There are just 430 members in this nomadic group and a report on an Andaman website claims that four children of the tribe have died in three months, a report that has caused alarm in the islands.

Andamanchronicle.net has reported in an investigative story that four infants below one year of age have died in a span of three months, and says the reason for deaths is that the children were given expired allopathic medicines. The report says that while two children belonged to Tirur area, two others died at Punna Nallah and Choudhary Ghumai, inside the Jarawa Tribal Reserve.

Andaman authorities have rejected the report, and have accused the website and its editor Denis Giles of writing fiction.

Theva Neethi Dhas, Secretary (Tribal Welfare) in the Andaman & Nicobar Administration told The News Minute that an investigation had been ordered to find if there was any truth behind the allegations. Though Dhas said that the website’s claim about expired medicine was false, he did not give a clear reply about whether four infants have indeed died in three months. “Infants may have died, but maybe over a period of two years. We don’t have any such information about sudden deaths, we are looking into it.”

Locals living in the island, tourist and even policemen are not allowed to enter the reserves where the Jarawas live, unless they have been assigned to do so. Over the last few years, a pharmacist has been allowed to go near the reserve and give dosages of medicine to the Jarawas.

“Instead of giving dosages, we have come to know that bottles of medicine were given. The Jarawas seem to have stored these medicines and used them beyond expiry. This is a clear case of negligence by the Tribal Welfare Department,” says Denis Giles.

Dhas rejected this theory too but added that the pharmacist angle was also being ‘looked’ at.

Denis Giles, the editor of the Andamanchronicle.net, is the journalist who along with another journalist working for The Guardian, had exposed the prevalence of Jarawa tourism in 2012. A video shot by a tourist of tourist operators making Jarawa women dance naked had created much outrage then.

Later the web portal had done a story on how Jarawa women were being sexually exploited, but inititally refused to give the recordings when asked by police and court. This as the editor believed the whistleblower would be targeted.

Dhas says the story on infant deaths is unsubstantiated. “Where is the proof? Last time they claimed women were being sexually exploited, did they give proof?”

Today, approximately 400 members of the nomadic Jarawa tribe live in groups of 40-50 people in chaddhas – as they call their homes.

Dr. Vishwajit Pandya, Honorary Director of Andaman Nicobar Tribal Research Insititute (ANTRI) told Andaman Chronicle that he is aware of the issue. “Surprisingly nothing much has been done in the case”, Pandya added.

As Andamanchronicle.net points out, four infants constitute 1% of the Jarawa population. Twice in the last decade, the Jarawa suffered outbreaks of measles, resulting in deaths. And it is important that the enquiry is conducted swiftly to ascertain if something did go wrong.

Related: How did two French filmmakers enter restricted Jarawa territory, shoot a full-fledged movie?