Lately, the Jarawa tribe of Andaman islands is making headlines for two things. One is that, the jarawa tribe women are being exploited to entertain foreign touristsand the other one is that jarawa tribe is itself is very close to extinction. These factors have upset eminent scientist and Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi vice-chancellor Dr Lalji Singh.

For several years now, Lalji Singh, who was director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, had been trying to get permission from authorities for collecting blood samples of the Jarawas so that the tribe can be saved from extinction. "We wanted to get access to the Jarawas so that we could do something to preserve the tribe, which now has a population of less than 200. Forget permission, we did not even get response to our letters to the Union ministry of science and technology," Lalji Singh said.

What Lalji Singh wants to do is collect the DNA samples of the tribe from the Andamans and preserve them for posterity. However, the samples must be brought to the laboratory within 24 hours for the preservation process to begin. For this, Lalji Singh even made arrangements at the CCMB laboratory in Hyderabad. He even tried to set up a laboratory at the Andamans itself with the help of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so that the risk of transporting their DNA samples all the way to Hyderabad can be avoided. However, the laboratory could not be set up due to infrastructure problems, particularly uninterrupted power supply.

It may be mentioned here that Lalji Singh and his team, through their research, had found that the human population spread from Africa to other parts of the world. The tribes in the Andamans - the Sentinelese and Onges - are believed to have found their way to the Andamans from Africa ages ago. In recent days, the spotlight has been on the Jarawa tribes following revelations that the tribal women were being made to dance semi-naked for the pleasure of foreign tourists.

Lalji Singh said permissions from various ministries including the environment ministry, ministry for tribal welfare and the administration of the Andaman and Nicobar islands is necessary to collect blood samples or buccal swabs from the Jarawas. Once the samples are taken, scientists will immortalize their cell lines, so that the tribe can be preserved as they face the risk of extinction. Lalji Singh said he would once again approach the authorities for the required permissions.
 

Video Source:islandwarrior16