New Delhi:
A day after authorities in the Andaman Islands claimed that a video of Jarawa tribals being paid to dance for tourists was several years old, there appears to be fresh evidence that this continues to this day.
The group Survival International has released hidden audio recordings of a conversation between the British journalist Gethin Chamberlain and a tour operator apparently recorded just a month back. The audio is apparently of a tour operator offering Mr Chamberlain access to the Jarawa tribals for a price.
NDTV cannot independently corroborate if the tour operator in question acted alone or was part of a group or whether he could actually deliver on his promises.
Yesterday's Guardian report says that the video has been shot in the Andaman Islands and that the girls belong to the endangered Jarawa tribe. "I gave you food," the voice, purportedly of the policeman, is heard reminding the girls at the start of the video.
The report accompanying the video on the website says the role of the police in the area is to protect tribes from unwelcome and intrusive outsiders. But on this occasion, the report claims, the police officer had accepted a 200-pound bribe to get the girls to perform. A tourist's camera films the incident.
The Guardian reports said, "This kind of video is the trophy tourists dream of when they set off into the jungles of the Andaman Islands 'on safari'. The beauty of the forest functions merely as a backdrop. The goal of the trip is to seek out the Jarawa... which is taking the first tentative steps towards a relationship with the outside world.
"The Jarawa tribe is 403-strong. Its members are trusting, innocent and hugely vulnerable to exploitation, living in a jungle reserve on South Andaman," explains the Guardian report.
The video has caused much consternation in India, with the Central government seeking a report from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration on the alleged exploitation of the Jarawa tribals.