Talk:Nicobar Islands
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Why doesn't India allow visitors to Nicobar islands?
I was wondering that myself. -- Beland 20:51, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
This seemed worth copying here from the reference desk:
Reading some recent coverage about tsunami aftermath in the Nicobar Islands, I was puzzled about why the local government might be prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the island. Union territory says that the islands are ruled directly by the federal government, which seems to contradict the CNN article. [1] says, "Travel to the Nicobar Islands is restricted, and only Indian nationals engaged in research may visit. Some exceptions are made for tourists with special permits." [2] says: "The Nicobar Islands are not open to visiting foreigners, whether scholars or tourists. Indian citizens need a special permit - which is hardly ever granted." [3] mentions the island's lieutenant governor.
So I'm wondering why the Indian government restricts travel to the islands. Is it for ecological reasons, to maintain tribal culture, something to do with the island's past as a prison, or some other historical or political context we're missing?
What is the actual structure of the island's non-tribal government?
The tribal/non-tribal population and protected land area figures also seem to vary a lot from source to source.
The situtation on the islands seems to be in a little bit of flux because of the tsunami, but it would be nice to get a handle on how things were right beforehand. Thanks for any insight you can lend. -- Beland 21:36, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- Hmm, there was a segment on Channel 4 News a few days ago, I think about the Nicobar Islands. In this case the government was trying to keep modernity away from the few remaining aboriginal islanders, whose culture was clearly teetering on a precipice. I think the relief consisted of chucking coconuts at the islanders from a fleeting boat, while they chucked pointy sticks back at the boat. So your cultural contamination theory seemed to be supported by that. -- John Fader 23:04, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Have a look at http://www.andaman.org/ - it has some related info on travel restrictions to the Andamans. But I think in this particular case, it may have a lot to do with not wanting people killed by the inhabitants, who are famously hostile to outsiders. - Mustafaa 23:06, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
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- This BBC article suggest that some islands are off-limit because of military reasons. Furthermore, this article states that there were 93,000 visits by tourists to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, but it may be that in fact these tourists all went to the Andamans. -- Jitse Niesen 14:31, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
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- I believe the offical reasons are because of the provisions of the Protection of Aboriginal Tribes (Regulation), 1956 legislation, which professes to control/restrict access to designated "tribal areas" for the protection and preservation of the indigenous cultures. The Nicobar district is designated as an Integrated Tribal District. On a similar basis, access to certain parts of the Andamans is also restricted, particularly North Sentinel Island and the Jarawa tribal reserve. Adherence to these ideals is a little haphazard it would seem, since the Govt built a road thru the latter reserve in the 70s which opened the area up somewhat.--cjllw | TALK 09:46, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
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