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good welcome to reporters here on france vancad i'm mark owen in this edition a way of life unchanged in thousands of years is now under increasing threat the jarawa people are said to be among the first
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to have migrated from africa thousands of years ago as part of the early evolution of our planet and our population their way of life is protected by law they live in a vast zone its perimeter guarded by the military
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for the conservation of their way of life but more and more the outside world is getting in poachers stealing the wild boar the gyros hunt for their food criminals selling this as bush meat at illegal markets the
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overall effect on the drawings could mean their extinction there are only just over 400 of them left our reports from india the jairos want to have self-rule over their land to preserve their traditions the indian government seems more
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concerned with developing tourism and the risks well it could turn the jarrow's lifestyle into a human zoo alexanderan says this meeting the gerowa is not a task for the faint-hearted
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they live on one of the largest islands of the andaman archipelago off the coast of india there are no more than 420 of them reaching the means trekking 115
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kilometers across their reserve after walking for several days we finally made contact
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for 35 000 years the jarawa had no contact at all with the outside world let's see you can shoot the furthest recent studies indicate they were amongst the very first peoples to have
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migrated from africa to the rest of the world i'm going to try again this time it'll really go far in theory the jarawa reserve is protected by the indian army
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and access is prohibited but since 2012 contact with indians living on the other side of the island has increased now tourists and poachers are threatening their fragile way of life
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more than once tribesmen have traveled to meet with the authorities but their complaints have been ignored that is why we decided to break the ban and meet them to hear their side of the story
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we need a peaceful existence in the forest and we're happy here everything is beautiful and peaceful
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we like sharing everything we are all together and we only hunt what we need they're getting closer and closer to us the jarawa are pygmies and
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hunter-gatherers their way of life has hardly changed since the stone age the change has come quickly and they now
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have tools torches and kitchenware and they have started wearing clothes most of their possessions were given to them by the park rangers rangers who were created by the indian
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government to protect the jarrow from the outside world since then however their way of life has been changed forever before there sometimes you have to walk at night but
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it's too dark in the past we used to make candles from beeswax but today we have tortoises the indians give them to us they provide more light and save us from
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darkness in the early hours of the morning the men go hunting but there's a constant fear of running into outsiders in spite of the rangers patrols dozens
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of armed poachers hunt with impunity on their land there are armed poachers who shoot at us they steal they kill our pigs we think about it all the time
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after the wild pigs it's deer their numbers have decreased dramatically since the poachers forced the jarrow to hunt for them wild game is being sold illegally on the
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indian market but the jarrow have even worse things to tell us they're offering us tobacco and they want to show us how to chew it
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it's not good for us they give us alcohol we don't want that either but they still try and make us drink it we don't want any it's bad
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have been given a tiny glimpse of our world but the increasing number of tourists is starting to make them feel like exhibits in a zoo an indian policeman is filming for a tourist
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next to a road that crosses the jarawa reserve none of the tourists on the andaman islands wants to talk about these photo safaris except for one guide who wishes to remain anonymous
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seventy to eighty percent of indian tourists will arrive in andamans in their package like it's always there like you know just to have a look like how these genres are like and that became actually a commercial business
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for all these travel agents in port berlin and people are taking new photographs and they are selling their cds like you know naked ladies dancing it's i feel like it's it's actually sort
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of an exploitation like these innocent abortion or primitive tribes like you know at the beginning of the road are the same signs you will see
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in game reserves escorted by the indian army dozens of vehicles cross the reserve
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four times a day inside are tourists who have paid to take pictures of the jarawa tourist videos have been uploaded online nobody had ever asked the jarawa what
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they thought but we did takulu one of the hunters is the clan's spokesman
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with tourism money came into their lives we buy cakes for the kids we buy food sugar for example if we don't have money it's not a
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problem but in the shop if we don't have money we can't buy cakes if you don't have money you can't get anything with the indian government focusing on
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developing the archipelago the plight of the jarrow seems to come a distant second to other concerns especially now the andaman islands have become the most popular destination
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for india's new middle class the ruling nationalist bjp party is denying the jarwa the right to self-determination something that jarawa say is unacceptable
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we don't your we're happy together we have no worries despite repeated requests no indian official was willing to be interviewed included in the vision of the indian
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agency responsible for the jarawa is to discharge its duties and responsibilities on behalf of india and the world to this unique heritage by conserving the ecology and environment
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to enable the indigenous people to live as per their own genius but the temptation to force the jarawa from their unspoiled beaches to build hotels might prove too strong whatever the declarations of goodwill
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the indian authorities may have made and with no clear policy or seeming will to protect them how soon will it be before the world's oldest peoples
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simply disappear forever our reporter alexander rance joins us here alexander thank you so much for that report um clearly you were going to places where people
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hadn't been before and certainly no white people you could tell by the reaction that people gave how difficult was it to make this film the area is a restricted area so you cannot go there the the indian army is patrolling
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all the time by boat by plane so this this forest should be completely secured but it's not in fact so we made our way inside this territory we investigate for four years
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and we've been there four times very small amount of day each time and since then the situation are worth in a lot in 2014 the jaguar women have been abducted and raped by indian men
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on poachers called air they give them alcohol tobacco underhand the game as you said and now the situation is is getting worse and worse because the jaguar are only 400 people left you can see a comparison with american
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indians what happened to them native americans when the europeans landed in the 15th century but this people is far more ancient it's been there for many many many more years than the indians in the what is now the usa yeah the last
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judy's revealed that the gerard came from africa 70 000 years ago and this history is repeating itself in fact we can see that what happened in the america is is going to happen now
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in the andaman islands and alexander an ancient people and they are protected but somehow they're not being protected why is that happening in fact this territory is uh is a blackout there is no media hello there no
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you know no anthropologist nobody can go there to study the jaguar or to report what's going on so this is why we get in to give the jawa a voice and the indian government stated
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recently that the jaguars want to join the mainstream they want to become indian but in fact nobody ever asked them if they want to do that so this is what we did and i think
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the answer is pretty clear they said we want to stay as we are tell us the impression that you got of how the gerard's life is what their lifestyle is what how they live
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it's a life of happiness and joy and freedom it's just amazing to see that and also this is very sad to understand that it could be
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stopped very fast so yes it's quite a very uh impressive experience and a feeling that the indian government is more concerned with developing tourism in this area than actually preserving
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this rare people yeah a few months ago the indian government stated that they want to make paul blair which is the local capital of the andaman the biggest port on the indian ocean
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so this is not only tourism it's only it's also economical development on army development and you know there is very few place like andaman island in india it's compared
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like the maldives section so there is a huge economic touristic potential there and they want to exploit it at the maximum and of course for the jarrow that looks uh well very bleak in the future alexander thank you very much
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for your film exposing a part of the world that well nobody ever sees but you got there for us and thank you very much indeed thank you alexandra uh with that report which of course you can see again via our website
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frostfancat.com this is reporters on france fancat stay with us
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you
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