Kanika Gupta

Berlin, Germany, Delhi

Freelance Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker at Freelance

Journalist| Bylines @NikkeiAsia @csmonitor @TRTWorld @AJEnglish @demchronicles| Grants @pulitzercenter @trf @internews @DartCenter| instagram @lifeoutside2by2

Articles

Afghan Women in Pakistan Forcibly Returned

3 weeks ago | fairplanet.org | Kanika Gupta

Shazia, who requested anonymity out of sensitivity, a 20-year-old Afghan woman, fled to Pakistan earlier this year seeking safety and a chance to rebuild her life in France under a humanitarian visa. But as Pakistan its crackdown on Afghan refugees, her hopes are unravelling. Now in hiding, with no legal status, she is one of millions caught in limbo, fearing deportation back to a country she no longer recognises.
Lebanon’s Postwar Reconstruction Is at a Standstill

Mar 19, 2025 | worldpoliticsreview.com | Kanika Gupta

NABATIEH, Lebanon—After more than a year of tit-for-tat airstrikes and several months of higher-intensity combat, the devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel ended with a ceasefire in late November 2024. In addition to the nearly 4,000 people killed during the conflict, the fighting caused an estimated $6.8 billion in damage to housing and infrastructure.
Lebanon’s Postwar Reconstruction Is at a Standstill

Mar 19, 2025 | yahoo.com | Kanika Gupta

NABATIEH, Lebanon—After more than a year of tit-for-tat airstrikes and several months of higher-intensity combat, the devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel ended with a ceasefire in late November 2024. In addition to the nearly 4,000 people killed during the conflict, the fighting caused an estimated $6.8 billion in damage to housing and infrastructure.
Saved by a ball, for now

Mar 3, 2025 | adnchronicles.org | Kanika Gupta

For 49-year-old Gigi, a migrant worker from the Philippines, the Church of St. Joseph in Beirut’s Acharafiyeh neighborhood, had always been a sanctuary. During her only day off for the week, she would hear mass and meet with friends there. In the past several years, however, the historic church has gained more significance for her; at its grounds in Lebanon’s capital, Gigi has been indulging in an unexpected passion: playing cricket with the friends who have become her family.
Displaced Syrian Women Are Optimistic-but Very Cautiously

Feb 4, 2025 | worldpoliticsreview.com | Kanika Gupta

BEIRUT, Lebanon—Amal, a 19-year-old from Daraa, in southwestern Syria, remembers being stopped by fighters of the so-called Islamic State a decade ago, when she was just 9, on her way home from school. Fearing for her safety, her parents immediately pulled her out of classes and kept her at home, at what was the height of Syria’s civil war. But two years later, when a rocket exploded into the next-door neighbor’s house, they realized that even staying at home was no longer safe.
Canadian conundrum for Indian would-be immigrants

Jan 10, 2025 | adnchronicles.org | Kanika Gupta

Last April, 28-year-old Yuvraj Singh from Gurdaspur in the northern Indian state of Punjab tied the knot with an Indian-origin Canadian citizen. The newlyweds dreamed of a life together in Canada, but their plans were put on hold as the ongoing diplomatic standoff between India and Canada led to unexpected and prolonged delays in Yuvraj receiving his Canadian permanent-resident permit (PR). He finally received his PR last Dec.
India and Pakistan Must Work Together to Tackle Their Toxic Smog Crisis

Dec 24, 2024 | worldpoliticsreview.com | Kanika Gupta

On Nov. 17, India’s capital, New Delhi, recorded the most polluted day in its recorded history, as residents breathed air that was considered at least 50 times higher than the World Health Organization’s safe limit. The suffocating smog brought the city to a standstill, with students and employees asked to stay home. “I’ve lived in Delhi my entire adult life, but the city’s air scares me now,” journalist Romita Saluja says.
Failing Afghanistan’s female population

Sep 21, 2024 | adnchronicles.org | Kanika Gupta

Afghan women are holding conferences and singing, but they are doing so outside of their home country and online. In Afghanistan itself, women and girls now not only cannot have an education, they have also been banned from having their voices heard in public. Apparently, too, Afghan’s female population have to be covered head to toe when they venture outside, including their entire faces. These – and more – are according to a new law issued last Aug.
Time to reassess and recalibrate relations

Aug 30, 2024 | adnchronicles.org | Kanika Gupta

When Narendra Modi first took office as India’s prime minister a decade ago, he launched the “Neighborhood First” policy, which was aimed at enhancing relations and economic ties with South Asian neighbors. Despite facing challenges such as border disputes, project delays, and the increasing influence of China, one clear success story emerged: Bangladesh, which under the leadership of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, cultivated a particularly strong partnership with India.
A diplomatic limbo

Jul 14, 2024 | adnchronicles.org | Kanika Gupta

Since 2022, India has progressively increased its engagement with the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, and has even stationed a “technical team” at its embassy in Kabul. The last two years have also seen Indian officials visiting Kabul. Just this March, a delegation led by JP Singh, the joint secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs’ (MEA) division for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, met with Afghanistan’s Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi.