Port Blair, Aug. 21: A good sign for the Onges tribe of Little Andaman as their dwindling population has been increased by two during the last four days. On Friday, Aug. 17, 2012 a female child was born to an Onge couple namely Smti. Meena Kumari W/o Rakesh R/o Dugong Creek. The child weighed 2 Kgs and the mother and child are doing well.

To add to the thrilling news yet another male child was born to an Onge couple, Smti Rajini and Shri Madan on 20th Aug. 2012 at 11.45 pm. With the birth of this male child, the Onge population has increased to 106. It is learnt that during the birth of the child, Rajini required blood due to excessive bleeding. To the rescue of the ailing mother, 2 units of O +ve blood was immediately donated by two police constables namely A.L. Saravana Kumar PC No. 592 and Keshav Mondal, PC No. 2370 posted as Police Station, Hut Bay. The gesture of the two constables has been highly appreciated by the staff of Primary Health Centre, R.K. Pur.

It is worth mentioning that in a tragic incident during December 2008, eight male members of the tribe had died after consuming some spurious fluid found on the sea shore. During January 2009, the AAJVS persuaded four male members of the tribe to remarry four widows who had suddenly lost their spouses in December 2008.