The Jarawas have opposed it for three decades; environmentalists and anthropologists believe it will bring doom to the Jarawas and the forests of the islands; and the Supreme Court of the country, too, has ordered it shut.

This is about the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) that is slowly but surely pushing into oblivion the Jarawas, one of the most threatened human communities in the world today and the original inhabitants of the Andaman Islands.

The Jarawa is a small indigenous community of Negrito origin that has lived, survived and flourished in the Andaman forests for at least 20,000 years. Little is known of them, their history and origin; of how they live in the forests, and what is their social structure. What is, however, known for sure is that they are being pushed to the brink by insensitive policies and interventions; typified, most significantly, by the construction and continued operation of the ATR.

The ATR connects Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the northern most town of Diglipur located 340 kms away. In the process it rips through the lands, the forests, and the very lives of the Jarawas. This road has, over three decades, facilitated the destruction of hundreds of sq kms of pristine evergreen forests that are critical for the survival of the Jarawa; it has sustained the rapacious timber industry here for decades; it has forcefully taken away from them their forests and traditional homelands; it has brought them disease and death and is even now bringing into their lives the worst of vices that includes tobacco, gutka, alcohol and now, reportedly, even sexual exploitation of their women.

In May 2002, the Supreme Court of India passed a set of landmark orders related to the islands, offering an opportunity in the interests of its fragile environment and threatened communities such as the Jarawa that live here. According to one of these orders, that part of the ATR that runs through or along the forests of the Jarawa, the Jarawa Reserve, was to be closed to all traffic within three months. That should have been August 2002.

One can understand the neglect of the will of the Jarawa and the opinion of a bunch of environmentalists. There is little, however, to explain how and why a Supreme Court order passed in May 2002 still remains unimplemented even today, more than a year after the deadline for its implementation has passed.

The Jarawas continue to be subjected to innumerable, untold risks as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands' administration keeps the road be open and allows traffic on it. A historical opportunity to protect the Jarawa and ensure their long term survival is being willfully let off and sadly, its happening with continued disregard for the wishes of the apex court of the country!

[Pankaj Sekhsaria is the author of the book 'Troubled Islands - Writings on the indigenous peoples and environment of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands']