Key Facts about Onge Tribe

About Onge Tribe:

• Onges are one of the most primitive tribes in India. They belong to the Negrito racial stock.
• They are inhabiting Little Andaman Island, the most southerly island in the Andaman archipelago.
• They are semi-nomadic tribes and fully dependent on the food provided by nature.
• The religion of the Onges is simple animism. Neither ceremonial worship nor any kind of propitiation is practiced by them. They believe in different classes of spirits-spirits of the wood, the sea, disease, storm, and ancestors.
• The Onge speak their own language, which has no script.
• The colour of the teeth has a unique interpretation among Onges, who consider pearly white teeth a symbol of death. They continue to chew the bark to impart a red colour to their teeth.
• They decorate their bodies and their faces with white and ochre clay. On special occasions, they place a greater emphasis on body ornamentation.
• Until the 1940s, the Onge were the sole permanent inhabitants of Goubalambabey (the Onge name for Little Andaman).
• They now share the 732 sq km island with around 17,000 settlers from India, Bangladesh, and the Nicobar Islands. ‘
• The Onge population was also decimated following contact with British colonists and Indian settlers; it fell from 670 in 1900 to only 96 members by the early 2000s.
• In 1976, the Onge were settled in order to have ‘the basic facilities for hygienic living and protection against elements of nature’.
• They now live in a reserve in Dugong Creek (Little Andaman) that is a fraction of the size of their original territory.
• The Onge tribe is also one of the world’s least prolific and infertile communities. Infertility affects somewhat more than 40% of married couples. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration recently set up a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra for the Onge tribe at Dugong Creek under Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyay Maha Abhiyan to make them self-sustainable through coconut-based products.