Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 14 August 2021
The word Andamans is used to represent the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands a group of 836 Islands, Islets and Rocky Outcrops resting in the Bay of Bengal 1200+ kms away from the Indian Mainland. 38 Islands of the archipelago are inhabited and the current population is estimated to be close to 4,34,192.
The capital city of Port Blair is where most of the decisions are made which decides the fate of the Islanders. Most decisions for the Islanders are made by the bureaucrats with very little to no political advise.
What these bureaucrats at the power centre of the Islands fail to remember is that there is a world beyond Port Blair and South Andaman, where a considerable population of the Islanders live. South Andaman District is connected to the Indian mainland through air and sea. The development of Andamans is centred around Port Blair city where life is much more comfortable than the remote islands.
Port Blair gets the most attention when it comes to the development of infrastructure whereas other remote Islands of Andamans are systematically ignored by those at the helm.
It is not just the bureaucrats who ignore the other remote Islands of Andamans, the general public residing in the capital city of Port Blair and surrounding areas are to be blamed equally. Any Islander browsing through social media will only see information and posts centred around Port Blair. These social media frenzy urban Islanders will share any news and views with the word Andamans attached to it as if the news or their view which is centred around the capital city of Port Blair speaks for the entire Andamans.
Life at Port Blair is much different from the lives of the remote Islanders. The development in Andamans needs to be decentralised and the voice of remote Islanders needs to be heard.
The remote Islands lack almost all the basic amenities important for sustenance in today’s world. The quality of education in remote Islands is poor, only basic healthcare facilities are available, telecommunication facilities are poor, there is a lack of transportation facilities etc.
Decades have passed but the problems of the remote Islanders are the same with no solution in sight. Once in a year, the higher-ups at the helm visit these remote Islands in the name of interaction with the Islanders. These higher-ups while their visit are said to have very limited time and hence the interaction is limited to about an hour. The Islanders raise their problems which are noted down dedicatedly only to be forgotten.
Political parties write letters, send memorandums, indulge in protests but the problems of the remote Islanders remain the same. Protests by these political parties lead to nowhere, as at the sight of the first verbal assurance, the political leaders of the Islands start convincing the public to end the protests to please and score points with their bureaucratic masters.
The grass-root level democracy in Andamans tries its best to bring in the most with the little power they have, but in the end, they too are controlled by the hands of the mighty bureaucrats, who reign at the helm.
The residents of remote Islands in the past years have resorted to protests for things as basic as the supply of fuel at the petrol pumps. I wonder where in mainland India people protested last because of the non-availability of fuel at the petrol pumps.
The world is fast-changing and the remote Islanders are falling behind in every aspect of life. The opportunities which are available at the urban centre of Andamans i.e Port Blair is not available to the remote Islanders.
Tourism is said to be the largest private-sector employer in the Andamans but in Nicobar District tourism has employed zero individuals. Campbell Bay a part of Great Nicobar in Nicobar District is the only Island where tourists can visit and Campbell Bay has some of the best beaches and spots for tourists to visit, but only a handful of tourists visit the island every year.
The reason for the lack of development of tourism in Campbell Bay is not the local people but it is the policy of the administration which is not ready to shift its focus out from South Andaman District. A backpacker who wanted to visit Campbell Bay in 2019 informed me that he wanted information regarding the Island and so he walked into the Directorate of Information Publicity & Tourism building at Port Blair, he met the officials at the reception and asked them for information to visit Campbell Bay. The backpacker informed that the officials advised him not to visit Campbell Bay as there is nothing there to see.
The attitude of the staff and officials at Port Blair is killing the opportunities for residents of remote Islands.
Andamans is much more than the capital city of Port Blair and the South Andaman District. Andamans also includes the remote Islands and habitations where the population is in two digits.
The Islanders, the bureaucrats and the politicians needs to realise that there is an Andamans beyond South Andaman which needs attention. Everyone needs to realise that the remote Islanders are looking towards them with hope for a better future. Everyone needs to realise that the remote Islanders also deserve the opportunities for a better life.