The death of an American Christian missionary whose covert expedition to convert the residents of North Sentinelese Island raised eyebrows across the world. The Sentinelese are the world’s last known pre-Neolithic tribal group. The episode has cast a spotlight on the threats faced by the world’s remote indigenous groups.

 The current status of the indigenous groups is highly vulnerable. There are reasons for non interference in areas of indigenous groups. The indigenous groups face the following grave threats.

• Dwindling Population: Indigenous communities’ combined share of the world population is now at just 4.5%. Colonial excesses had reduced aboriginal population in Andaman islands from more than 25 tribes to just four tribes
• Threat of new diseases: Indigenous tribes show aggression to outsiders mainly because they associate outsiders with violence and infectious diseases like small pox leading to their depopulation during colonization time.
• Past Experiences: British colonial excesses whittled down the aboriginal population of the Andaman Islands, which includes North Sentinel Island, from more than two dozen tribes 150 years ago to just four today.
• Alienation: This is due to increased encroachments of the lands they reside in. Example: Brazil’s new President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to repeal constitutional safeguards for aboriginal lands in order to expand developers’ access to the Amazon rainforest.
• Dwindling forestlands: indigenous societies have been pitted against loggers, miners, crop planters and other interlopers. In the last 12 years alone, according to satellite data, Brazil’s Amazon Basin has lost forest cover equivalent in size to the entire Democratic Republic of Congo

Due to the threats faced by them, the governments across the world have taken many measures           to protect them.

• After decolonization period, many independent countries made “no contact policy” for indigenous tribes respecting their right to their ancestral land and maintaining seclusion.
• In India, Andaman and Nicobar (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation , 1956 declares areas of tribes as reserves and prohibits entry ,filming and photography. The rules were amended later to enhance penalties. But restricted area permits were relaxed for some islands recently.
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous people

The indigenous tribes have to be left alone. Their way of living over centuries has helped them live in synergy with the nature. The importance of isolation of indigenous tribes are:

• Right to Life: Many of tribal groups have traditions and customs which are peculiar to them. They must be respected which is in accordance to their fundamental rights.
• High Vulnerability: Many primitive vulnerable tribes particularly in Andaman and Nicobar islands are vulnerable to even diseases such as common flu and their exposure to outside population would wipe out their existence. Example: large chunk of the population of the 10 Great Andamanese tribes was wiped out after the indigenous peoples caught syphilis, measles, and influenza on an epidemic scale following contact with the early settlers
• Natural way of Life: Indigenous tribes have good understanding of and show reverence for nature. Example: When the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck, more than a quarter-million people died across 14 countries, but the two isolated Andaman tribes, which rely on traditional warning systems, suffered no known casualties.
• Protectors of Nature: As world environmental sentinels, they safeguard 80%of global biodiversity and plays critical role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.
• They act as hub of biological treasure for scientists seeking to reconstruct evolutionary and migration histories.
• Past experiences of interference in their indigenous lives has led to many unfortunate events like Insurgency and Extremism as seen in Central and north eastern Indian tribes.

Way forward:

• Knee jerk reaction such as easing norms of Restricted area permit should be avoided.
• Integrational approaches involving interactions with such groups must be taken up.
• Complete assurance of their autonomy and preservation of their diversity should be the guiding principles.
• Providing infrastructure like proper health care facilities, educational facilities, access to modern technology can help them grow better.
• The tribal policy of Panchasheel can act as a guiding light in this direction.

Conclusion:

                Indigenous people are an essential element of cultural diversity and ecological harmony. The least the world can do is to let them live in peace in the ancestral lands that they have honoured and preserved for centuries.