Why in News:

• ADIVASI TRIBE who live in Andaman and nicobar islands were hit by Tsunami at 2004 in which thousands lost lives where some of the oldest adivasi tribe such as Jarawas and Onges survived.

Onges Tribe:

• The Onge call themselves En-iregale, which means ‘perfect person’
• They have long lived on Little Andaman Island, the most southerly island in the Andaman archipelago.
• They spend much of their time hunting and collecting honey and they are largely dependent on rations of rice, lentils and other commodities.
• They consider white teeth a sign of a dead body so they chew a bark to turn their teeth red.
• They decorate their bodies and their faces with white and ochre clay.

Jarawas tribe:

• Jarawa tribe live in groups of 40-50 people in chaddhas (as they call their homes). They hunt pig and turtle and fish for food.
• They also gather fruits, wild roots, tubers and honey. Their bows are made from the chooi wood, which does not grow throughout the Jarawa territory.
• They used to sing songs while collecting honey to express their delight

Threats they face:

• The road that cuts through their territory brings thousands of outsiders, including tourists into their land.
• Both local settlers and international poachers enter their rich forest reserve to steal the game the tribe needs to survive.
• They remain vulnerable to outside diseases to which they have little or no immunity. In 1999 and 2006, the Jarawa suffered outbreaks of measles – a disease that has wiped out many tribes worldwide following contact with outsiders.
• The women have been sexually abused by poachers, settlers, bus drivers and others.