By the 2000s, some Jarawas had become regular visitors at settlements, where they trade, interact with tourists, get medical aid, and even send their children to school.

Any form of evidence on the Jarawas—social, cultural, historical, archaeological, linguistic, phenotypic, and genetic—support the conclusion that the Andaman Islanders have been isolated for a substantial period of time, which suggests why they have been able to survive despite modernization.

After the establishment of a British colonial presence in 1789 by the Bengal Presidency, the Jarawas experienced a massive population decline due to the introduction of outside infectious diseases to which they had no immunity.

[8] The Great Andamanese tribes were similarly depopulated by their overuse of alcohol and opium (which were introduced to them by colonial officials) after their introduction, leaving open the western areas which the Jarawa gradually made their new homeland.

[10] Despite the disease epidemics during the colonial era and the chaos of the Second World War (during which they were attacked by imperial Japanese forces), the Jarawas managed to remain intact as a tribe.

[10] In spite of these risks, the Jarawas increasingly assumed an active role, learning more about the settled population, taking up opportunities to trade more frequently, and informing themselves about their own special status as protected people.

In the process, Jarawas learned other languages, sought medical aid, and began to ask tourists for money if they wanted to take photos.

[14] Today, several Jarawa groups are in regular contact with the outside world through settlements on the fringes of their Reserve, through daily contact with outsiders along the Andaman Trunk Road and at jetties, marketplaces and hospitals near the road and at settlements near the reserve, with some children even showing up at mainstream schools and asking to be educated along with settler children.

The Jarawas have well balanced diets, and since they exploit both terrestrial as well as aquatic resources, they can easily supplement one type of food by another one in case of a shortage.

The biggest threat to the Jarawa in recent years came from the building of the Great Andaman Trunk Road through their newer western forest homeland in the 1970s.

The impact of the highway, in addition to widespread encroachment, poaching and commercial exploitation of Jarawa lands, caused a lawsuit to be filed with the Calcutta High Court, which has jurisdiction over the islands.

The Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, the Bombay Natural History Society and Pune-based Kalpavriksh joined in the petition, resulting in a landmark High Court judgment in 2001, directing the administration to take steps to protect the Jarawa from encroachment and contact, as well as preemptively ruling out any program that involved relocating the Jarawa to a new reservation.

[11] A major problem is the volume of sightseeing tours that are operated by private companies, where tourists view, photograph or otherwise attempt interactions with Jarawas, who are often begging by the highway.

These are illegal under Indian law, and in March 2008, the Tourism Department of the Andaman and Nicobar administration issued a fresh warning to tour operators that attempting contact with Jarawas, photographing them, stopping vehicles while transiting through their land or offering them rides were prohibited under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956 and would be prosecuted under a strict interpretation of the statute.

[citation needed] Some Indian tourism companies bring tourists close to their secluded areas where the natives are tossed food from the caravans.