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Sentinelese

2020 DEC 20

Preliminary   > Social Justice   >   Miscellaneous   >   Human geography

Why in news?

  • Any exploitation of the North Sentinel Island of the Andamans for commercial and strategic gain would spell the death knell for its occupants, the Sentinelese, the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) has said.

About Sentineles:

  • The Sentinelese is a secluded particularly vulnerable negrito tribe who live on the North Sentinel Island of the Andamans,
  • According to Anthropological Survey of India, Sentinelese presence was confirmed in the islands to 2,000 years ago.
  • From 1901 to 1921 they were estimated to be 117 people. Census 2001 counted 39 inhabitants, indicating a declining trend.
  • The Sentinelese have been fiercely hostile to outside contact and as a result, Sentinelese are perhaps the most reclusive community in the world today and their language is so far understood by no other group.
  • Some researchers argue that the Sentinelese have been mostly left alone even from colonial times, unlike other tribes such as the Onges, Jarawas and Great Andamanese, because the land they occupy has little commercial attraction.
  • Sentinelese are among the five particularly vulnerable tribal groups in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which include Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, and Shompens.

How are they protected?

  • The Govt. of India issued the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 to declare the traditional areas occupied by the tribes as reserves, and prohibited entry of all persons except those with authorisation.
  • Photographing or filming the tribe members is also an offence.
  • The rules were amended later to enhance penalties and permissions to restricted islands are given only on the rarest of occasions.
  • In 2018, American national John Allen Chau was allegedly killed by the Sentinelese on the Island. It was one among the only three known occasions in which outsiders landed on the island the others being in 1967 and during colonial period.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements: 
1.The Ten-degree Channel separates the Andaman and Nicobar island groups.
2.Andaman islands have tropical rain forests along with mangroves on the coast.
Which among the above statements is/are correct?
(a)1 only 
(b)2 only 
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question