Astha Rajvanshi, Author at Institute of Current World Affairs

Astha Rajvanshi is an international reporter for NBC News based in London. As an ICWA Patricia and Robert Levinson fellow (India, 2020-2022), she examined the lives of women and marginalized communities in India. In 2022, she received the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award from New York University for stories published in The New Yorker and TIME on the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s coal mine in the tribal state of Chattisgarh. She has received fellowships from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Global Reporting Center and Citizens UK, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the Global Migration Program at Columbia University and the Australia-Korea Foundation. She earned an MA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a BA from the University of Sydney. Astha was born in New Delhi and grew up in Sydney.

Dispatches from Astha Rajvanshi

Assam’s stateless women
A crackdown on illegal migrants has made them the easiest targets.
What’s next for India’s farmers?
After the success of a year-long protest in the capital, a return to the land brings resolve to pursue real reforms.
A walk through Kolkata
The city’s daily life is marked by politics, religion and the threat of outsiders.
Climate change is forcing Indian fishermen to keep rebuilding their homes
Rising sea levels and heavy storms are displacing millions in the world’s largest delta.
The cost of educating an Indian girl
Many in the state of Rajasthan have dropped out of school during the pandemic, facing pressure to get married.
The fight against ‘love jihad’
New laws against religious conversion threaten interfaith marriages in India.
India’s gender gap is slowing the vaccination drive
How women are prevented from getting the jab.
A model Indian state comes undone
Once touted for its development, Gujarat has suffered some of the pandemic’s worst losses.
India’s Covid disaster up close
Losing a loved one to the coronavirus as the pandemic’s deadly second wave engulfs millions of Indians.
India grapples with a deadly second pandemic wave
As Covid-19 cases continue to skyrocket, Indians turn to social media.

Publications from Astha Rajvanshi

TIME: Astha Rajvanshi on feminist philanthropy
"The Growing Movement to Make Global Philanthropy More Feminist," by Astha Rajvanshi (India, 2020-2022), TIME, August 2, 2024
TIME: Astha Rajvanshi on India’s elections
"Why India’s Political Opposition Is So Weak," by Astha Rajvanshi (India, 2020-2022), TIME, April 2, 2024
TIME: Astha Rajvanshi on Indian crony capitalism
"What Adani’s Downfall Tells Us About India’s Crony Capitalism," by Astha Rajvanshi (India, 2020 - 2022), TIME, February 1, 2023
New Yorker: Astha Rajvanshi on a vanishing Indian village
A coal mining company run by Asia’s richest man is strip-mining tribal lands.
Astha Rajvanshi report: Women and minorities in India
How the rise of Hindu nationalism affects Indian women and minorities.
TIME: Astha Rajvanshi on India’s ‘conversion therapy’
One woman fights to enforce the UN's global ban on the treatment in India.
Astha Rajvanshi wins journalism prize
New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute has awarded Astha Rajvanshi the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award.
TIME: Astha Rajvanshi on marital rape in India
Indian women do have basic rights, but they need to how to protect themselves.