Honest scope
The A&N PVTG Cultivator Welfare programme is a small, protective scheme — not a large income-support scheme. The PVTG cohort in A&N is among the most vulnerable in India: the four notified PVTGs of the A&N islands are the Onge (~120 individuals on Little Andaman), Great Andamanese (~50 on Strait Island), Shompen (~250 in Great Nicobar interior) and Nicobarese (~28,000 across Car Nicobar and Nancowry group). The Jarawa (~450 in South Andaman reserve) and Sentinelese (~50 — 100 on North Sentinel) are under protective non-intervention by policy — there is no agricultural welfare intervention for these two tribes by design, to preserve their isolation and immune status.
The agricultural component of PVTG welfare here is therefore necessarily limited in scale and deliberately calibrated to be culturally appropriate, low-disturbance and food-security- oriented rather than commercial.
What this scheme actually covers
- Tuber and pandanus revival: traditional staple tubers (cassava, sweet potato, yam) and pandanus (Nicobarese staple) varieties supplied through ICAR-CIARI and the CARI tribal-cultivar bank. Free planting material, training in low-input cultivation.
- Low-disturbance horticulture: banana, papaya, jackfruit, citrus and coconut on cleared land within the buffer zones — never inside the reserve forest core.
- Freshwater fishery training: small-pond fishery with locally adapted species (carp polyculture, walking catfish, tilapia in pre-existing community ponds); net-making and curing skills.
- Traditional honey and cane handicraft: community-managed harvest of forest honey and cane; market linkage through the Tribal Welfare Cooperative.
- Food and nutrition supplementation: rice, dal, oil, salt, sugar at fair-price shops; supplementary nutrition for under-5 children and pregnant women via the integrated ICDS chain.
Eligibility
- Member of a notified PVTG community: Onge, Great Andamanese, Shompen or Nicobarese.
- Identity verified by the Tribal Welfare Officer (TWO) of the area, with the village headman / community elder's certification.
- Bank account held in the tribal member's name (often routed through the Tribal Welfare Cooperative for those without individual banking access).
Jarawa and Sentinelese identification routes are deliberately absent — by policy, these two tribes are not approached for any agricultural intervention.
How to access
- The Tribal Welfare Officer (TWO) of the area initiates the household survey and inputs community-level needs. Individual application from tribal members is rarely required — the scheme is operated as a community-managed programme.
- Inputs and training are delivered through joint TWO + Agriculture Department + CIARI field camps; cultural protocols (language, local elder mediation) are observed.
- Output handling — surplus produce, honey, cane handicraft — flows through the Tribal Welfare Cooperative; market access is controlled to avoid exploitation and over- commercialisation.
Latest changes (2024 — 2026)
- 2023 PM-PVTG Mission: ₹15,000 crore national mission for PVTG households launched; A&N PVTGs are notified beneficiaries.
- 2024-25: Cyclone Remal (May 2024) caused damage to Nicobarese pandanus and coconut groves on Car Nicobar; targeted replanting included under cyclone-relief.
- 2025: PM-PVTG Mission Phase-I review; A&N PVTG households integrated into housing + safe-drinking water rollout alongside agricultural support.
Cultural protocols and ethics
Welfare delivery here is intentionally restrained: (a) the Jarawa and Sentinelese remain under policy-mandated non-intervention; (b) intervention in the Onge, Great Andamanese, Shompen reserves is calibrated to be low- disturbance, language-mediated and elder- mediated; (c) the Nicobarese, who are larger-population and culturally more integrated with mainstream Indian agriculture, see a fuller intervention spread including coconut, areca and spice work. Anthropologists and tribal-rights advocates have repeatedly noted the importance of staying within these protocols — particularly post-Cyclone Remal in 2024.
Common rejection reasons
- Identity unverified: TWO/ elder certification missing.
- Outside notified community: non-PVTG households (post-1947 settlers) are not eligible under this scheme.
- Intervention in protected reserve core: any agricultural intervention within the inner Jarawa Tribal Reserve or North Sentinel buffer is refused as a matter of policy.
How this stacks with other schemes
PM-PVTG Mission (PM Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan, 2023) covers housing, safe drinking water, road connectivity, mobile medical units and education alongside the agricultural component administered through this state-level welfare programme. A&N Coconut Cluster covers the broader cultivator base (including Nicobarese, who are partly aligned with the mainstream programme). Post-Tsunami Restoration continues for Nicobarese cooperative-held land parcels.