Jarawa numbers up 62% in 15 yrs

Kolkata: In a tribe where every birth and death makes headlines, here is news of the century. Jarawas, one of the most endangered tribes of the world, have seen a 62% rise in population in last 15 years - from 266 in 2001 to 429 this year. As many as 263 of them are below 20 years of age.
The Jarawas are so vulnerable that the Supreme Court has had to issue orders to protect them.The 2012 killing of a Jarawa woman by a crocodile and the death of a Jarawa child in March this year had triggered shockwaves among anthropologists. But it seems the health outreach started in 1997 has paid off.
In 2001, Andaman and Nicobar Centre of Anthropological Survey of India put the Jarawa population at 266. In 2012, the Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti, the apex welfare body for Jarawas, said the population had gone up to 406. "Their number is at 429," said AnSI director-in-charge M Sasikumar.
This data will figure in the book 'Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of India' to be released by AnSI to mark International Day of the World's Indigenous People on August 9. It includes a paper by AnSI deputy director Anstice Justin where he attributes the rise in population to modern healthcare.
Jarawas, also known as Angs, inhabit 1,028 sq km of forest area in the south and middle Andamans in pockets called Tanmad, Boiab and Thidong. Justin found that there are 164 children below 10 years. Men seem to outlive women as of the 11 tribals aged over 51, only three are women. The book warns of threats from poachers and the need to study why male infant mortality rate is relatively higher than that of females.