PRAGOTI

In mid-December 2009, I visited fishing areas in and around the Mundra coastal region which hosts the vast Mundra Port and SEZ Limited (MPSEZL). The visit to the coastal areas adjoining the Mundra port in the Kutch revealed discontent among fisherfolk, traders and pastoralists over the creation of a special economic zone in the area. Apart from environmental concerns, the traditional livelihoods of residents in the area have also been affected by the new industrial projects, leading to organised protests, as witnessed in Bhadreswar village a few months ago.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan have been internally displaced by armed conflict, ethnic tensions or human rights violations, natural disasters such as drought, or secondary dis-placement in the case of refugees and deportees who have returned from neighbouring countries.

The Indian Ocean paradise of Diego Garcia was once home to more than a thousand contented British subjects. In 1966, Harold Wilson's government sold it to the US in a secret, illegal deal and terrorised the population into leaving.

Courtesy: www.johnpilger.com

Natives of the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia won't be allowed to return to the Chagos archipelago they left more than 35 years ago, following a ruling today by Britain's highest court, the House of Lords.

The London-based court upheld the British government's appeal in a 3-2 verdict, overturning earlier rulings by lower courts which held that the UK government wrongfully took away the islanders' "right of abode."

That right is a "creature of the law," wrote Lord Leonard Hoffman today. "The law gives it, and the law may take it away."