summary of Xaxa report

The summary of Xaxa report ( High Level Committee on Socio-economic, Health and Educational Status of Tribal Communities of India). 

Aspects related to legal regulations of Tribes and tribal areas

(1) Laws and policies enacted by the Parliament and State Legislatures should not be automatically applied in the Fifth Schedule areas (as was the case under colonial rule or as is presently the case in the Sixth Schedule areas). Its applicability should be made contingent on the discretion of the Governor who would determine its applicability or non-applicability or applicability with modifications/amendments on the advice of Tribes Advisory Council and issue a Statement of Objectives and Reasons for decisions on both applicability and inapplicability of laws and policies. In case this is untenable, the Governor should be mandated to take the advice of the Tribes Advisory Council and examine legislations and policies passed by the Parliament or State Legislatures and the implications of the same on tribal welfare. A mechanism for such examination and action should be clearly stated and established.

(2) Actions taken by the Governor for safeguarding the interests of tribal communities should be clearly mentioned in the annual Governor’s Reports submitted to the President.

(3) There needs to be a radical restructuring of the composition of the Tribes Advisory Council (TAC). Instead of two-thirds elected members from the State Legislature, this should be restricted to half the members of the TAC. Moreover, these elected representatives must come from different political parties, rather than only from the ruling party. The remaining one-half should be comprised of Chairpersons of the district Panchayat bodies (or chairpersons of the Autonomous Council, wherever established) of the Scheduled Areas on a rotational basis. Tribes Advisory Council should be empowered, made active and responsible for the tribal affairs in the State.

(4) Autonomous Councils must be covered under State Finance Commission that is empowered to review periodically the financial position and lay down appropriate principles of resource distribution between State and the Autonomous Council. Funding should not be left to arbitrary discretion of the State Governments.

Livelihoods of tribal communities

(1) There is a dire need to establish agro-based training institutions and related labour-live intensive processing industries in tribal regions. Terms and quantum of micro-credit should be made reasonable for individuals, SHGs, cooperative institutions and Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas for the tribes to pursue these occupations. In order to make use of land available with the tribal farmers, they should be motivated to undertake organic farming and eco-forestry. This requires concerted efforts by the Departments of Agriculture and Forest to motivate the tribal farmers to undertake such activities. Although a majority of Scheduled Tribes have land, and cultivation is their main occupation, water for agriculture is the greatest impediment in production. Micro watershed development program with people-centered participatory approach is a good method for poverty reduction through natural resource management in tribal regions. Therefore, micro watershed should be given top-most priority in tribal areas to enhance agricultural productivity.

(2) The deprivation of STs of cultivated land adds to their marginalization and penury. This warrants the prevention of all kinds of tribal land alienation through strict enforcement of laws and restoration of alienated land to the tribal owners as per the provisions of the PESA and the confirmatory Acts by various States. There should be monitoring agencies at the National and State levels to prevent alienation of tribal land and its restoration.

(3) The Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) among the tribes need special pvtgattention due to their vulnerability in the present situation. Their customary right to land, forest and sources of livelihood must be respected and protected. The issue of nomenclature must be addressed by commissioning a special study. MoTA should ensure that all states having PVTGs should take steps to have micro-projects for individual PVTGs to utilize the grants received under SCA.

Education policies for Tribals

(1) The purpose of education anywhere, including in tribal areas, should be to provide children with an understanding of the environment and society in which they live and to endow them with the capability to earn a livelihood in the local society and, for those who have the desire and ability, in the national job market.

(2) There is a marked gender gap with respect to education in tribal society. This is reflectedtribal edu in the disparity in literacy levels, drop-out rates and enrolment in higher education. Hence, there is a need for greater gender focus and social mobilization to encourage education of girls. The State must develop certain mechanisms to this effect. Since the educational scenario in tribal areas is marked by poor infrastructure, providing adequate infrastructure, such as classrooms, teachers and teaching aids as well as basic facilities like electricity, water, boundary walls and toilets is absolutely essential for the proper functioning of these schools and from the perspective of security and safety of children. In view of the deteriorating condition of elementary education in tribal areas, where Sarva Siksha Abhiyan has hardly been of help, recourse should be taken to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 which provides for compulsory enrolment of all children between the age group 6 to 14, re-enrolment of those who have dropped out with the facility of special coaching for admission in a class appropriate to his or her age, and admission of a child in a neighbouring school of his or her choice.

(3) Keeping in view the difficulties of adjusting to a new cultural environment, teachers for cultureschools in the tribal regions should be recruited locally. Along with the teaching staff, the administrative staff dealing with tribal education should have regular orientation courses to appreciate tribal culture and way of life. To facilitate such training, the centers of training should be located in the tribal areas. There should be a separate cadre of teaching and administrative staff, who will serve among the tribal schools over the long run.

(4) Inclusion of local culture, folklore and history in the curriculum can help in building confidence of tribal children and enhance the relevance of education in their lives. Music and dance are a central part of tribal life. Therefore, storytelling, theatre, painting, music and dance performances should be promoted. Similarly, sports such as football, archery and other popular local sports are extremely beneficial and therapeutic for children, and should be promoted.

(5) Recognizing that the tribal people have certain cultural ‘genius’, different aspects of edu‘indigenous knowledge’ should be documented, researched and promoted. For developing better understanding of the tribal cultures and their promotion, there should be appropriate number of tribal cultural academies in regional centres. An important step in this direction is teaching tribal history and culture in schools for both tribal and non-tribal children.

(6) Residential schools should be set up specifically for Nomadic Tribes. The basic principles are: (a) The residential schools should be in places where the weather is least harsh, (b) there should be special security for the children, including girl children for whom there should be women wardens, (c) the parents of students should be brought to these institutions so that they are informed about the education, and quality of life, of their children, (d) there should be proactive efforts by Tribal Affairs officials of the State to approach every family to help them make an informed choice to send their children to the schools, (e) the holidays for these schools should be fixed in such a way that the children can meet their family, when the family returns to the place where they celebrate festivals, weddings, etc.

Participatory Policy making for Tribals

(1) The first principle of any policy or program for tribal people is participation. Tribal council people as a population segment are not politically very vocal. However, they have different geographical, social, economic and cultural environments, different kind of health cultures and health care needs. Hence their views and priorities must get due place in any health care program, meant for them. We suggest making use of three types of existing institutional mechanisms to improve the programs.

(a) Tribal Health Assembly: From the Gram Sabhas at village level, upto the national level, Tribal Health Assemblies should be annually organized in which the people (at the level of village) or their representatives (at the higher levels) participate. For instance, such a ‘Tribal Health Assembly’ is annually organized for the past 15 years by an NGO, SEARCH, in Gadchiroli district (Maharashtra) for three purposes, a) to listen to the health problems and priorities of the people, b) to get approval for the proposed health solutions and activities, c) to get their feedback on ongoing activities.

(b) Tribal Health Councils: These should be constituted by including elected representatives, NGOs, experts and government officers for the purpose of planning and monitoring of programs. Such councils should be constituted at the block or ITDP level, district, state and national level. These should be empowered to shape the health plans and monitor implementation. These sub-committees of Panchayat level, district level and Zilla Parishad could function as Tribal Health Councils.

(c) Tribes Advisory Councils at the state level: These Councils should approve the health plans prepared by the Tribal Health Councils, and to review the performance of implementation.

Healthcare and medical facilities for Tribals

(1) To bridge the scientific knowledge gap of centuries, health care for Scheduled Areas should give paramount importance to spreading ‘health literacy’ by way of mass educational methods, folk media, modern media and school curriculum. Enormous scope exists for communication in local dialects and for the use of technology.

(2) Traditional healers and Dais play an important role in the indigenous health care. amteInstead of alienating or rejecting them, a sensitive way of including them or getting their cooperation in health care, must be explored. Traditional herbal medicines should be protected through community ownership. The ownership and intellectual property rights of tribal community over their own herbal medicines and practices should be ensured.

(3) Apart from the physical distance, a huge cultural distance separates the tribal population from others. Health care delivery to the Scheduled Tribe population should be culture-sensitive and in the local language in order to overcome this distance.

(4) Health care delivery system for Scheduled Areas must keep as its guiding principle the Chinese axiom – How far can a mother walk on foot with a sick baby? Health care must be available within that distance. This, for the tribal communities living in forests, means health care must be available in their village/hamlet.

(5) The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should redesign the primary and secondary health care services in Scheduled Areas. The new pattern should not be enforced as a top-down, vertical, uniform national program, but should provide a framework for local planning with local participation. Thus, the ‘Tribal Health Plan’ will have three feature: one, a process framework about ‘how’ to prepare the local plan, which will be in the form of guidelines on mechanisms; second, a series of locally developed need-based contents of the plan and third, a design or structure of the health care system to deliver such services in all Scheduled Areas. This ‘Tribal Health Plan’ should become an essential feature of the National Health Mission and of the Tribal Sub Plan. The goals and monitoring indicators of this plan will be different than the regular MIS of the NHM.

(6) Human Resources for Health: The well-known difficulties in deploying doctors, nurses and other technical personnel from outside, into Scheduled Areas have made the problem of human resources the Achilles’ heel of health care in Scheduled Areas. We recommend that, instead of making futile efforts to import unwilling and unstable personnel from outside, the most feasible and effective long term solution will be to select, train and deploy local Scheduled Tribe candidates. This should be done at the following levels:

(a) Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Anganwadi workers –from the same village or the hamlet.

(b) The ANMs and paramedic workers – from the same block.

(c) The doctors and public health program managers – to a large extent, from the same district. The candidates must be local, belong to Scheduled Tribes, be fluent in local tribal dialects, be selected on merit and should be committed to serve in the local Scheduled Area for at least ten years.

(7) The ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and ANMs will continue to be the mainstay of health care in rural and tribal areas. Due to the physical isolation of tribal communities, compounded by a lack of doctors, it will be pragmatic to train, equip and empower the three ‘As’ – ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and ANMs – in tribal areas to a higher level.
Since the selection for medical education is through a statewide and all India competitive process, the local Scheduled Tribe candidates may not get selected. Hence separate Medical Colleges for Tribal Areas be opened in selected scheduled districts, one college per three million Scheduled Tribe population in the state. All seats are to be reserved for such committed Scheduled Tribe candidates, to be selected from the respective Scheduled Areas, depending on the population and need for doctors in each Scheduled Area. The aim should be to provide, in ten years, the required number of appropriately trained doctors to serve in these areas.

(8) Addiction has serious effects on the socio-economic fabric of tribal society. It affects not smokonly health but also productivity, family economy, social harmony and ultimately, development. Hence, i) the Excise Policy for Scheduled Areas, approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in 1976 and accepted by the states, should be implemented effectively, ii) the availability and consumption of tobacco and drugs should be severely controlled and iii) the availability and use of alcohol and tobacco products among the Scheduled Tribe population, and the implementation of control policies by the states, should be monitored on selected indicators. These efforts should become a critical part of the Tribal Sub-Plan.

(9) Data on the Scheduled Tribe population is a basic ingredient for planning, monitoring and evaluating health programs in Scheduled Areas. All national data systems – the Census, SRS, NFHS, NSSO, and DLHS – should be asked to plan for and generate Scheduled Tribe-specific estimates on health indicators at the district level and above. One percent of the total budget for the Scheduled Tribe population (TSP) should be allocated to the generation of reliable, timely, and relevant segregated data on Scheduled Tribes population, from the local to national level. This will provide the crucial instrument – the facts – necessary to guide program managers, policy makers and the Scheduled Tribe population itself. Towards this, the specific measures recommended are:

(a) Construction of a composite Tribal Development Index (TDI)

(b) Construction of a composite Tribal Health Index (THI) including the indicators on health status, determinants and health care.

(c) Ranking of 151 districts with more than 25 percent Scheduled Tribes population and of states on these indices.

(d) Creation of a high power national body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to facilitate the commissioning and collection of relevant data and monitoring of the indices and progress. This body should complete the work through the various existing agencies/surveys such SRS, NSSO, NFHS, DLHS, AHS, NNMB, the TRTIs in the states, the ICMR institutes network on tribal health, and finally, the health ministries in the states. Necessary administrative and financial authority should be provided to this body.

(10) The Proposed Goals of the Tribal Health Plan should be:

(a) To attain the Millennium Development Goals (2015) on health and nutrition for the Scheduled Tribe population in India by the year 2020, To bring the health, sanitation and nutrition status of the Scheduled Tribe population to the same level as that of the non-Scheduled Tribe population in the respective states by the year 2025,

(b) To create the human resources necessary for provision of healthcare in Scheduled Areas, as per the norms set by the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage (2011), by the year 2025,

(c) To create and make functional the institutions for participatory governance (Tribal Health Assemblies and Councils) at all levels in the Scheduled Areas by the year 2016,

(d) To annually generate Tribal Health Plans at all levels by the year 2017,

(e) To annually allocate and spend 8.6 percent, in proportion to the Scheduled Tribes population, of the total Health Sector Plan and Non-plan budget, plus 10 percent of the TSP for the implementation of the Tribal Health Plan.

Land Alienation, Displacement and Enforced Migration

(1) The new legislation, ‘The Right To Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land displacementAcquisition, Rehabilitation And Resettlement Act, 2013, is progressive in the sense that it is the first to legally mandate rehabilitation of Project Affected Persons. However, it fails to address the need for minimizing of acquisition of land and resources. This is not surprising, since the objective of the Act, which seeks to address concerns of those whose livelihoods are affected, simultaneously aims at facilitating land acquisition for industrialization and urbanization. This is in keeping with the broader liberalization policies. Such policies will result in more displacement in Central India for mining and in the Northeast for dams.

(2) The 2013 Act already has a provision for safeguarding food security and states that multi-crop irrigated land will not be acquired, except as a last resort measure. Further, the State Government is to set limits on the acquisition of such land under this law. States are also required to set a limit on the area of agricultural land that can be acquired in any given district. However, there is no mention of the need to protect tribal land and community resources. Hence, a suitable provision is required to be incorporated in the Act, to safeguard tribal land and community resources in Scheduled Areas and disallow acquisition by a non-tribal, including private companies.

(3) The definition of ‘public purpose’ in the new law is very wide and will only lead to greater acquisition and displacement in Scheduled Areas. The exercise of ‘eminent domain’ and definition of ‘public purpose’ should be severely limited.

(4) Government agencies acquiring land with the ultimate purpose to transfer it to private dispcompanies for stated public purpose, should be kept outside the ambit of the new law, as the Public-Private Partnership mode of acquiring land is simply a backdoor method of alienating land in violation of the Constitutional provision to prohibit or restrict transfer of tribal land to non-tribals in Scheduled Areas.

(5) It is recommended that, as directed in the landmark Samatha judgment and the PESA Act, every Gram Sabha should have the power to prevent alienation of tribal land and further that minerals should be exploited by tribal people themselves. The stringent provisions of the amended Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959, should be adopted by other States, particularly the provision that facilitates the formation of Registered Scheduled Tribe Co-operative Societies, which could take up mining activities in Scheduled Areas. By doing so, the Samantha Judgment would hold good for all States with Scheduled Areas. It should be the responsibility of the State to facilitate the formation of cooperatives of tribal people for the above purpose.

(6) Gram Sabha consent should be mandatory for acquisition of land by the Government for its own use as well. Moreover the Act does not have a provision to the effect that exploitation of natural resources in Scheduled Areas must be with the consent of the Gram Sabha. This should be rectified.

(7) There has been inadequate recognition at the policy level that land represents an inalienable resource, passed on from generation to generation in tribal communities, who otherwise have no education and skill development. Studies have documented that those DPs who got jobs in lieu of land and whose children did not receive education or training were worse off after the job-holder retired from service. Loss of land and Common Property Resources can be compensated only by proper Rehabilitation & Resettlement which envisages restoration of livelihoods, health and education facilities and skill development for the whole family and community of tribal who are affected by development. There should be provision of ‘land for land’, in acquisition of tribal lands. Compensatory land provided must be made cultivable with irrigation and agricultural inputs. Rehabilitation should be treated as a continuous process to be monitored by the Project Authority and State until the alternative livelihood becomes economically viable. They must be given a stake in the assets and economic activities being created on their acquired land and CPRs (for example, land in command area, irrigation of tribal land in the vicinity, jobs in industries, or shops/jobs in industrial projects/townships). An expanding economy, particularly expanding labour-intensive manufacturing sector together with adequate emphasis on health, education and skill development, hold the key to humane R&R.

(8) Land and water sources polluted by industrial and mining projects in tribal regionspol require attention and the onus for taking corrective measures should be on the Project Authorities. The schemes of the Government could be utilized to treat polluted land and water resources of tribal people.

(9) Implementation of the new law will be difficult in the absence of resettlement and rehabilitation capacities in the local administration, local community and corporate entities. It is essential that the State and corporate sector create such capacity by introducing professional training and orientation courses for following the best R&R practices worldwide and replicating them in the Indian situation. Offering tribal people monetary compensation and making promises without attendant capacity to deliver on them will not resolve the impasse that has brought land acquisition to a standstill. Sporadic attempts by instruments of the State to use force to acquire land is unethical and unacceptable. Only a genuine and bonafide effort at comprehensive and pragmatic R&R can persuade tribal people to part with their land.

(10) In view of the large-scale discontent among displaced tribal people regarding poor R&R, a High-Level Fact-finding Committee/Enquiry Committee should be set up to investigate the quality of R&R in all medium and major development projects undertaken in the last fifty years in Scheduled Areas and tribal-dominated districts of States without Scheduled Areas. This Committee should be mandated to suggest ways and means to deliver justice to the displaced families, who have not received any proper rehabilitation. This is essential, in view of the fact that, the new law has not taken cognizance of the backlog of displaced people, a majority of whom are tribal people.

(11) Myriad grassroot movements against exploitation of tribal people and other weaker sections hold the key to greater socio-economic justice. It would be desirable if the State recognizes this and engages with democratic grassroot movements, instead of crushing these movements.

(12) Development projects have opened up tribal areas leading to influx of people from outside the tribal region, seeking employment in various sectors. All this has resulted in increasing urbanization of tribal areas and immigrants, rather than tribals, have benefited from this. Consequently, the percentage of tribal population in some Scheduled Areas has declined, although historically, these areas were almost exclusively occupied by tribal people. Hence, it is recommended that there should be no reduction in the areas declared to be Scheduled Areas as this will harm the interests of already deprived tribal communities by diminishing their space and their resources. Rather, the representation of tribal communities should be enhanced and strengthened in the politico-administrative institutions within Scheduled Areas.

(13) Tribal people suffer predominantly from the phenomenon of poverty-induced migration, also known as forced migration. An analysis of the Census data shows that there has been an occupational change and the number of tribal cultivators has reduced while the number of tribal marginal workers has increased. Micro studies indicate the increase in seasonal/circulatory migration of tribal workers, which may help them to avoid starvation, but is not enough to improve their standard of living. Hence, it is recommended that:

(a) The Census and National Sample Surveys should gather data on the phenomena of tribal displaceseasonal/circulatory migration, migration of children across social groups and poverty-induced migration.

(b) Priority should be given to STs in settlement of ceiling surplus land and wasteland, investments to improve agriculture, support for high value horticulture, employment opportunities in rural areas, access to credit facilities and skill-development to rural youth for employment in labour-intensive manufacturing sector.

(c) Complaints have been received that, due to seasonal migration of tribal people, they are not enumerated in the Census and therefore, Census data is not a true reflection of tribal population. This grievance requires to be redressed.

(d) Apathy and incapacity of the State to implement the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, has led to exploitation of tribal migrant families. In particular, tribal women and children suffer greatly. There is a growing demand for enactment of a comprehensive Migrants Rights Legislation, which deserves serious consideration.

(14) Recommendations for measures to prevent illegal land alienation of tribal land are as follows:

(a) In pursuance of the PESA, 1996, Land Transfer Regulations/Tenancy laws of all Schedule V Areas should be suitably amended to ensure Gram Sabha participation in the identification, investigation and restoration of lands to tribal people. Gram Sabhas require to be strengthened by State Governments to undertake these responsibilities.

(b) Plenary powers could be given to Gram Sabhas to fight cases of tribal land alienation collectively, as an individual tribal cannot afford to face prolonged legal battles, given their socio-economic conditions.

(c) The Gram Sabha should be empowered to restore the alienated land on detection, gram sabha pending the long legal battle, in order to potentially discourage a prospective non-tribal buyer of land in Scheduled Areas. This needs to be legally examined.

(d) Increased investment is required to be made by State Governments to provide legal aid to tribal petitioners so that they are in a position to hire competent lawyers to fight cases. The Government must also provide legal training, literacy and awareness programs for youth and women on State and customary laws contextualized with modernity processes, with the participation of NGOs.

Legal and Constitutional Issues

The past twenty years have been dramatic in terms of the changes in the economy, and in the effect that economic policy has had on tribal communities. This has also been the period when laws, notably the Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, have been enacted which recognize autonomy and rights of tribal communities. The implementation of these laws is, however, sputtering and reluctant. The FRA framework includes provisions for: (i) recognition and vesting of rights (towards a secure tenure and livelihood/food security of the Scheduled Tribes and Other traditional forest dwellers), (ii) protection of the rights till the recognition and vesting process is completed, and (iii) control over forests of the local community and the Gram Sabhas. This framework, however, is missing from the process adopted for implementation of the law and the implementation structure does not have the necessary mechanisms and the vision to realize the objectives of the law. What is needed foremost is to strengthen the institutional system to support the process of implementation, including strengthening of the Gram Sabhas and FRCs, streamlining functioning of the sub-divisional and district level committees, strengthening the functioning of the state level monitoring committees and a dedicated structure within the nodal ministry (Ministry Of Tribal Affairs).

(1) The import of PESA has not been internalized into administrative practice, and government officials including Forest Departments continue to deny access to tribals to that which is their right. Bureaucracies and judicial institutions need to be introduced to the changes that PESA has brought into administration and control in Fifth Schedule areas. An exercise to bring rules made by state governments in conformity with PESA needs to be undertaken.

(2) Government officials who were the agencies to prevent tribal loss of land are increasingly being seen to be negotiators on behalf of project authorities. This is a very disturbing trend, where the very authority who had been tasked with preventing land alienation from a tribal to non-tribals becomes an agent for effecting such alienation. This must be stopped.

(3) There have been recorded cases of Gram Sabha consent being fraudulently obtained or forged; such conduct must face penalties, and projects that proceed on the basis of consent so obtained cannot be allowed to proceed. If such consequences do not flow, there will be no incentive to refrain from such actions.

(4) Given the constitutional provision in Article 243-ZC, the creation of new Nagar Palikas or the extension of those already in existence in Fifth Schedule areas and tribal areas, as defined in the provision, must be preceded by a law made by Parliament, which sets out the exceptions and modifications from the chapter on Municipalities introduced by the 74thAmendment to the Constitution.

(5) There has been a proliferation of MoUs between states and companies that imposes responsibility on the state to facilitate various aspects of project clearances including in matters of environmental and forest clearances. Increasingly, the state undertakes to maintain law and order for the smooth execution of the project. These MoUs make the state a party to an agreement and take away the neutrality of the state. The idea such MoUs needs to be reviewed. Institutions such as the Cabinet Committee on Investment that set priorities and pursue them even where it is in direct breach of the law amounts to deliberate flouting of the law and such practices of expediency need be halted.

(6) De-notified Tribes have been asking that steps be taken to remove stigma and prejudice denoti from their lives. More specifically, the Habitual Offenders Act, which has served to continue to attach criminality to them, should be repealed. Anti-beggary laws render the talents that they possess, such as juggling and acrobatics, into punishable conduct; there are earnest demands for the repeal of these provisions in the law. Women bear the brunt of this attribution of criminality, and whole communities of women find themselves in prostitution without a choice. Complaints about police brutality including custodial rape were rife, speaking of lawlessness among the law enforcers. Such lawlessness is unacceptable and action must be taken in accordance with law.

(7) The Andaman Trunk Road which the Supreme Court ordered to be closed in 2002 still continues to be open to traffic. Although there are formal directions against plying commercial traffic on the road, these have been observed only in the breach. Tourist vehicles including buses and taxis ply on this road. In the past few years, the exploitation of Jarawasjarawa as a tourist attraction, and the sexual exploitation of the Jarawas has been recorded and reported on. The problem has however not abated. The Andaman Trunk Road will have to be closed if the Jarawas are to be protected from such unwelcome interest. DNA testing on Jarawas has been reported. Efforts to get the protocols used to ensure the consent of the indigenous population did not yield result. This becomes of especial significance in the context of the Human DNA Bill, 2012, which proposes the creation of DNA data bases. Informed consent is a necessary part of such exercises, also among the indigenous population