Hello there! Thank you for your interest in my work.
I am a freelance journalist based in New Delhi, India. I have over 21 years of experience, working for some of the world’s top media publications as staff as well as freelance contributor.
I have a Masters in Journalism from the Birmingham City University and began my career as a radio producer with various BBC Radio in the UK. I worked in the BBC Asian Network as a producer and then moved to the BBC World Service, where I worked as a producer of the World Today show.
I covered South Asia as a correspondent for TIME Magazine between 2011 and 2015. Between 2015 and 2018, I was an editor on the Asia desk of Agency EFE, a Spanish News Agency. For a few months after that I also worked with ESPN as an editor.
I have been working independently since 2018, writing and reporting for TIME, the National Geographic Magazine, the New Scientist, the New Internationalist, the Washington Post, etc etc.
I have won three international awards for my work on development and gender.
I was also featured in the National Geographic Magazine’s iconic Women of Impact issue in 2019.
What is your greatest strength? The issue’s contributors answer.
The latest issue of National Geographic is the first ever with all female contributors. We asked each to say a bit about herself—specifically, her strengths.
The major focus of my work has been on:
Gender
How women in India demanded—and are getting—safer streets
Since a horrifying assault shocked the nation, women there have pressed for more protection from harassment and abuse in public spaces.
How Women Have Changed India Through Political Protests
Women are leading protests against Modi’s government in India
India’s New Laws Hurt Women Most of All
New Delhi wants people to prove their citizenship. But Indian women are the demographic least likely to possess paperwork.
Millions of women volunteers form India’s frontline COVID response
Low-paid and often working without proper protection, these women are fighting to be recognized.
Why Are So Many Girls in India Not Getting an Education?
The data shows girls aren’t staying in school
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Will COVID-19 inspire the world to provide poor people with clean water?
Handwashing can prevent many diseases, if you have easy access to soap and water. Some three billion people don’t.
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Adding pain to the pandemic
Nilanjana Bhowmick on the recent legislation steamrolled through parliament that has disadvantaged working people and gripped India’s farmers in protest.
‘They treat us like stray dogs’: Migrant workers flee India’s cities
The coronavirus pandemic has left many of India’s poor without jobs, food, or a way to get home.
ENVIRONMENT
In New Delhi, burning season makes the air even more dangerous. Can anything be done?
Coronavirus lockdown brought respite from the intense pollution, but it’s back with the winter smog, though stubble burning isn’t the whole problem.
‘Nobel for environment’: India’s Pavan Sukhdev wins Tyler Prize
Sukhdev wins the prestigious prize for ‘revolutionising how decision-makers would come to view the natural world’.
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Invisible green warriors
Nilanjana Bhowmick heralds India’s most overshadowed environmentalists: waste-pickers
SCIENCE & HEALTH (COVID-19)
India’s coronavirus pandemic is leading to many more deaths from TB
The coronavirus pandemic has made it harder for people in India to access healthcare for tuberculosis and almost 88,000 additional deaths due to TB are expected this year
India about to overtake the US with highest covid-19 caseload globally
With almost 100,000 new daily coronavirus cases, India is fast overtaking the US and the true number is likely to be much higher
MENTAL HEALTH
Why Are We Still Not Talking About Grief?
India is a spiritual retreat for people from all over the world trying to come to terms with their loss, pain, and suffering. But Indians are strangely uncomfortable with the idea of grief. Trigger Warning: This essay contains instances of suicide, depression, and alcohol abuse.
Opinion | India’s feminists need to address why so many Indian women are killing themselves
India’s feminism movement will fail us if it doesn’t address the problem of overworked women.
POLITICS & CURRENT AFFAIRS (ALSO BREAKING NEWS)
Why This Indian State Is Witnessing the Most Violent Citizenship Act Protests
A Hindu monk has overseen a brutal crackdown on protesters
Mr Narendra Modi, Where Is Najeeb?
I have never attended protest gatherings. But on Sunday evening I was ready to because a time comes when every citizen has to rise up and protest in one voice, or be silenced forever.
India’s embarrassing North Korean connection
Research centre in the Himalayan foothills under scrutiny after revelation that it trained North Korean scientists.
OPINION & ESSAYS
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Can the world handle another Rohingya crisis?
India is looking at the world’s largest statelessness crisis. Nilanjana Bhowmick asks, have we learned nothing from the ongoing dispossession of Rohingya Muslims?
Opinion | Meet the militant monk spreading Islamophobia in India
Religion, Marx said, was the common man’s opium. It can’t be truer in India than right now.
Opinion | As India’s Muslims are lynched, Modi keeps silent
Demonstrations against growing attacks on Muslims are being held in around 11 cities across India.