Decision of Mainstreaming Will Solely Depends on the Jarawa: Home Minister

Port Blair, Jan. 22: The Union Minister for Home Affairs today made it clear that the decision of ‘mainstreaming’ the Jarawa will solely depend on the tribe.

It is upto the Jarawa to decide whether to join the mainstream. The will be given the liberty to decide the speed and pace at which they want to integrate and whether to integrate or not, said Shri P. Chidambaram while addressing a press conference today at Raj Niwas, Port Blair.

“We are not going to thrust or impose anything on the tribe”, he said.

Explaining about the concept of mainstreaming, the union minister said that these are issues to be understood and discussed carefully.

Jarawa like the Nicobarese are old tribes. 70-80 years ago the Nicobarese were also in the same state. Today they have integrated. So the decision solely depends on the tribe, the Minister cleared.

To a question on the controversial ‘Andaman Trunk Road’, Chidambaram said that the Court had ordered closure of two segments of the road. The first one is a stretch of 43 Kms and the second 13 Kms. If this is done, it would divide the road into three bits.

There have been suggestions for alternate route or sea route. The matter is in the Court. Let’s wait for a proper decision.

Dwelling on the issue of Buffer Zone Notification passed by the A&N Administration, the Union Minister of Home Affairs said that it was felt at that time that the notification was required to protect the Jarawa tribe. The matter is before the Supreme Court.