

Other denotified islands are East Island, North Andaman Island, Smith Island, Curfew Island, Stewart Island, Landfall Island, Aves Island, Middle Andaman, Long Island, Strait Island, North Passage, Baratang, South Andaman, Havelock, Neil Island, Flat Bay, Little Andaman, Chowra, Tillang Chong Island, Teressa, Katchal, Nancowry, Kamorta, Pulomil, Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar, Narcondam Island and Interview Island. The new regime, set to be in place till December 31, 2022, reportedly denotified islands including the North Sentinel Island. This was communicated to the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the MHA. Under the new regime however, procuring a RAP is not necessary for islands previously notified under the regime.

And if they wanted to go there for activities other than tourism or on a visa other than tourist visa, they would require prior permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs before RAP is granted to them. Under the previous RAP regime, foreigners traveling to these islands would require RAP – a special permit from a competent authority. “Even fishing is not allowed in the buffer zone all around. He confirmed that the entire island is out of bounds. The MHA source confirmed that the North Sentinel island continues to be a tribal reserve and the denotification from RAP regime has not affected this status.Īndaman DGP Dependra Pathak also said as much.

He (John Chau) had not done any of these things,” the MHA source said.
North sentinel island 2017 registration#
You need to inform the local Foreigners Regional Registration Office, and also take approval from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as well as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. “There are three other requirements to visit the island. This did not mean that anyone could go anywhere on the North Sentinel Island. We thought, to promote tourism and for ease of travel, we will just remove the RAP requirement,” a source said. "Earlier, foreign nationals would need to arrange for RAP even before they flew from their home country to the places under the regime. However, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs say there are several other laws protecting the Island. In August this year, in a bid to promote tourism and encourage investment, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decided to exclude 30 islands from Andaman and Nicobar from the RAP or Restricted Area Permit regime notified under the Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order, 1963 – including the North Sentinel Island, which is a tribal reserve area. The people there have resisted contact from outsiders for as long as there are records.Several news reports have pointed out since that John Chau was not breaking the law by visiting the North Sentinel island. In a world where just about every mile is mapped, North Sentinel remains an enigma. He told his friends he wanted to immerse himself in the culture and stay for years. He was determined to translate the Bible into the language the people on North Sentinel speak, which has stumped anthropologists who say it is unintelligible even to people who live on nearby islands. He completed a summer course at the Canada Institute of Linguistics, in British Columbia, where he hunkered down in a dorm room stacked with books and jars of peanut butter, immersing himself in phonology and phonetics. Preparations for his trip to North Sentinel picked up last year. This passage is known as the Great Commission, and several of Chau’s friends said more than anything else, it explained why Chau did what he did.

In the Book of Matthew, the resurrected Jesus says: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
