Ushaben Tadvi

Ushaben Tadvi is a project affected person from village Vadgam, the first to submerge in the Sardar Sarovar dam, out of the total of 245 villages. Ushaben and her family were forcibly evicted from their submergence village Vadgam in Gujarat in 1994 and were relocated at Dharampuri resettlement site near Dabhoi, Vadodara also in Gujarat. The two clips here are a small part of her interviews taken in the years 2009, 14-15 years after her displacement from Vadgam and once again in 2023, 28-29 years after her displacement from Vadgam.  

In the first clip from her interview in 2009, Ushaben details the life of women of the Narmada valley before and after displacement by the Sardar Sarovar Project.

In the 2^nd clip from Ushaben’s interview in 2023, she says nothing has changed for the better in the resettlement site in the past 14 years from the time she was interviewed last in 2009.

Being from the first village to submerge and close to the Sardar Sarovar dam, Ushaben explains the impact of forced displacement on adivasi women. Ushaben displaced in 1994 and interviewed in 2009, explains how she has never really felt at home in the resettlement site, provided by the Government of Gujarat. This she says after having been in the resettlement site for over 14 years when she was interviewed. She says this against the backdrop of Government of Gujarat claims that the resettlement provided to the oustees of the Sardar Sarovar Project is the best in the country.

The second clip is a part of Ushaben’s second interview taken in 2023, 28 years after her displacement from Vadgam and 14 years after her last interview in 2009 in Dharampuri resettlement site. In this clip, Ushaben details the difficulties that they continue to face in the resettlement site and how oustees are having to depend on wage labour now. She goes a step further and says that had they not been forcibly evicted by police, they would not have left their original village and even now, she desires to return back to Vadgam, their ancestral home. This she says 28 years of having been displaced and living in the resettlement site.

Nandini Oza, the interviewer was also a witness to the forced eviction of Vadgam on that fateful day in 1994.

1st Clip Duration:
00:06:12

Language:
Audio in Gujarati, Subtitles in English

Subtitles can be switched on and off by clicking ‘CC’ button at the bottom right of the video

2nd Clip Duration:
00:05:00

Language:
Audio in Gujarati, Subtitles in English

Subtitles can be switched on and off by clicking ‘CC’ button at the bottom right of the video