the Union government and the Andaman and Nicobar administration have decided to build a database on the Jarawa tribe. The Anthropological Survey of India (asi) has already initiated work in this regard. The government was under tremendous pressure from activists across the globe to collect the required information about the Jarawas, a primitive tribe inhabiting the dense forests of middle Andaman.

"This database will have details of every member of the Jarawa tribe with their photographs, physical description and other important information,' said a senior asi official. Currently an "in-camera' photographic session is being conducted among the Jarawas. But the database wouldn't be made public immediately after its completion.

"This is a welcome step. We will get a clear picture of the present status of Jarawas,' says Samir Acharya, secretary of the Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, which works for the welfare of the Jarawas. The present Jarawa population is around 250.