the cases of gravely threatened species,
laws prohibiting wildlife exploitation by
non-tribals apply to tribal populations as
well.)^16 As recently as the late-1990s
many officials and politicians considered
the expansion of tourism in ANI to be nei-
ther developmentally desirable nor eco-
nomically feasible, but pressure has been
building to open ANI to “high value, low
impact” luxury tourism and eco-tourism.
The Prime Minister himself chaired a 2003
meeting of the Island Development
Authority (constituted by the Planning
Commission) at which the future of
tourism in ANI was a main topic of discus-
sion, and business interests have takenthis as encouragement.^17It would be wrong to characterise Great
Nicobar as either an ecological or a social
disaster. Yet there are clear and present
dangers apparent to the external observ-
er. Ecological studies and biodiversity
assessments have not proceeded far
enough for experts to define clear conser-
vation priorities for the island. Nor has
there been any systematic attempt to
learn about the tribal peoples” under-
standing of their environment. In the
absence of ethno-ecological or social ecol-
ogy studies, even purely “external” eco-
logical management of Great Nicobar can-
not be effective; nor is it con-
ceivable that community man-
agement can begin without
conservation authorities”
appreciation of local knowledge
systems. Recent environmental
policies and administrative con-
ventions include progressive
and participation-enhancing
features. However, statements
about the roles of local, espe-
cially tribal people in environ-
mental conservation continue
to reveal tensions between
ideals of development and pro-
tection of cultural diversity.Environmental policy and
tribal policy
Like their colonial predeces-
sors, Indian government offi-
cials today habitually refer to
tribal peoples”
“backwardness”.^18 A “Draft
National Policy on Tribals” cir-
culated this year by the
Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MTA,
created in 1999) emphasises
the poverty and deprivation of
many of the country’s tribal
people. While populations of
Scheduled Tribes generally areConservation aas ccultural aand ppolitical ppractice
Jhau Nallah is the only existing Shompen village on the coast of
Great Nicobar. There is no historical evidence of other Shompen
coastal villages; the coast seems for a long time to have been
the Nicobarese domain. Jhau Nallah therefore represents a varia-
tion in the Shompen lifestyle. The village leader is Agyon, who
succeeded his still living but elderly “stepfather”, Kachua. (Agyon
does not remember his biological parents and came to live in
Jhau Nallah as a child.) This group apparently consists of five to
eight “villagers”, with only one woman, Kachua”s wife, who may
be over eighty years old and who usually stays inside her hut.
Agyon has a leadership qualification uncommon among
Shompen: he can speak some Hindi. He is also familiar with cur-
rency and he once received medical treatment in Campbell Bay
for several months. Agyon left and returned to his people volun-
tarily. He has two hodisand is a skilled member of his communi-
ty, but what are his actual prospects? There are no mates for
him in his village. Shompen women in neighboring Laful and
Trinket are jealously guarded. An important problem facing the
Shompen today is the sex ratio. Agyon usually spends his days
doing small jobs around the village and waiting for the govern-
ment rations to come, or he actually goes to town to fetch them.
He is as dependent on these rations as the others in his village.
Is there a connection between the frequent illnesses in Agyon”s
village and dietary change—or change in the Shompen lifestyle
generally? Isolated populations succumb easily to diseases har-
boured by the societies they come in contact with, but there are
also diseases that follow changes in lifestyle. Whatever the con-
nection between Shompen health and changing diet, Agyon and
his people will be waiting for rations... Is it right to pretend that
we are not changing the Shompen and to believe that we are let-
ting them develop “according to their own genius”?