Bo Tribe: Language extinct

An example of extinction
One of the world's most endangered languages has dissappeared forever after the last remaining member of a unique tribe that inhabited the Andaman Islands for as long as 65,000 years died of old age. The last speaker of the Bo language, a woman named Boa Sr., died at age 85 in late January, 2010. It is one of the ten Great Andamanese tribes that are considered indigenous inhabitants of the islands, which lie 750 miles off the east coast of India.

She was also the last known speaker of the Bo language, which is distinct from those of the other Great Andamanese tribes, according to Anvita Abbi, a professor of linguistics at Jawaharlal National University in Delhi.

Last of the Bo tribe sings

Professor Abbi, who had known Boa since 2005, said that she had been losing her sight in recent years and was unable to converse with anyone in her own language since the other surviving Bo speaker died several years ago."At times, she felt very isolated and lonely as she had no one to talk to in her own language." Boa had no children, and her husband died several years ago.She could, however, communicate with others in a local version of Hindi and in Great Andamanese, which is an amalgam of all the ten tribal languages, according to Professor Abbi.

The loss of Boa and her mother tongue highlights the plight of the indigenous people on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a key Indian naval outpost that foreigners can visit only with a special permit.

The only indigenous tribe that is relatively intact is the Sentinelese, who ban any contact with outsiders and were famously photographed firing arrows at an Indian helicopter after the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

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Jarawa tribe facing extinction

Jarawa girls in clothes given to them by outsiders who can enter the reserve through an illegal road.

The Jarawa (also Järawa, Jarwa) are one of the adivasi indigenous peoples of Andaman Islands in India. Their present numbers are estimated at between 250–400 individuals. Since they have largely shunned interactions with outsiders, many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood. Their name means "people of the earth" or "hostile people" in Aka- Bea. The biggest threat to Jarawa in recent years came from the building of the Great Andaman Trunk Road through their hewer western forest homeland in the 1970s. In late 1997, some Jarwa started coming out of their forest to visit nearby settlements for the first time. Within months a serious measles eidemic broke out. Later, in 2006 the Jarawa suffered another outbreak of measles.The impact of the highway, in addition to widespread encroachment, poaching and commercial exploitation of Jarawa lands.

A major problem is the volume of sightseeing tours that are operated by private companies, where tourists view, photograph or otherwise attempt interactions with Jarawas, who are often begging by the highway. These are illegal under Indian law, and in March 2008, the Tourism Department of the Andaman and Nicobar administration issued a fresh warning to tour operators that attempting contact with Jarawas, photographing them, stopping vehicles while transiting through their land or offering them rides were prohibited under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribes regulation,1956 and would be prosecuted under a strict interpretation of the statute. It has been alleged, however, that these rules are openly being flouted with over 500 tourists being taken to view Jarawas daily by private tour operators, while technically being shown as transiting to legitimate destinations and resulting in continuing daily interaction between the Jarawa and day tourists inside the reserve area.

On 21 January 2013 a Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and H.L. Gokhale passed an order banning the tourists from taking trunk road passing through Jarawa area.

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Survey

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Dongria Kondh tribe

The Dongria Kondh of India's Niyamgiri Hills have fought a heroic battle against mining giant Vedanta Resources to save their sacred mountain.

The Supreme Court has told Vedanta that the Dongria must decide whether to allow mining or not.

                       

Mine- A story of sacred mountain

This short film, narrated by Joanna Lumley, tells the story of the Dongria Kondh’s resistance. Vedanta are intent on constructing an open-cast mine on their land and thereby destroying the tribes sacred mountain and with it everything they know. The Supreme Court has given the Dongria three months to decide whether to allow mining in the hills.

There are about 8000 members of the tribe, living in villages scattered throughout the Niyamgiri Hills. They are also known as Jhamia. meaning 'protector of streams', because they protect their sacred mountains and the life-giving rivers that rise within its thick forests.

Niyamgiri hills is considered as to be their sacred mountain. But it is a rich deposit of bauxite. So Vedanta decided to mine this mountain for $2billion bauxite. As we all know, mining has hazardous effect on nature. It would destroy the forests, disrupt the rivers and spell the end of the Dongria Kondh as a distinct people. Dongria Kondh lifestyle and religion have helped nurture the area's dense forests and unusually rich wildlife. the indian government refused to grant final clearance for Vedanta's mine, choosing the place the Dongria Kondh's rights above the company's balance sheet. In April 2013 the Supreme Court decided that the Dongria Kondh must make a decision on whether mining should go ahead.

Dongria Kondh girls (photograph by: Jason Taylor)

The reasons why tribals resist mining were

• They would lose their livelihood, their identity and the sanctity of their most religious site.
• In common with other displaced tribal peoples worldwide, they would also lose their present good health, their self sufficiency and their expert knowledge of the hills, forests and farming systems that they have nurtured.

    
'Not even this handful of soil'
The Dongria Kondh explain why they vehemently oppose the building of a mine on their land and what they must do it resist it.

Vedanta has been trying to mine Niyamgiri's bauxite since 2003. The company built a refinery at the foot of the hills and started on the conveyor belt that would bring the bauxite out of the hills. Kondh villagers were removed from their homes for the refinery. They suffered threats and intimidation. They lost both their lands and their means of supporting themselves. They are also suffering from various health problems due to pollution from the refinery such as skin problems. livestock diseases and crop damage. The Odisha government's pollution control board found emissions from the refinery to be alarming and continuous. Although the mine has currently been shelved, and the refinery has been temporarily shut due to a lack of bauxite, until the refinery is permanently closed the Dongria remain concerned that their hill is not safe. In 2012, the refinery was closed due to lack of bauxite.

Vedanta's aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh, Odisha, seen from the Niyamgiri Hills

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