Saumya Kalia

New Delhi

Independent Journalist at Freelance

writing and building things @BehanBox + @Report4theWorld • ex @the_hindu, @TheSwaddle • words in @ajenglish @thecaravanindia @frontline_india

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Articles

Why TV News Is Getting Away With Irresponsible And Dangerous Conflict Reporting

4 weeks ago | behanbox.com | Saumya Kalia

Between May 7 and 11, two kinds of warfare were on display: one of military power as armies exchanged drones, artillery, and shells across the India-Pakistan borders and another, of narratives. The latter was manufactured in part by television studios that showed incorrect footage, quoted “unnamed officials”, reported on events that never happened, and declared the enemy “defeated” more than once.
‘Reading For Pleasure Pauses The March Towards Women’s Productivity’

1 month ago | behanbox.com | Saumya Kalia

In our editorial series BehanBox Talkies, we explore ideas through the lens of scholars.
Drivers, Many Of Them Women, Bear the Cost of BluSmart’s Collapse

1 month ago | behanbox.com | Saumya Kalia |Shreya Raman

Ragini*, wearing the sky blue uniform shirt with the BluSmart emblem over her kurta, sits in a sea of grievances. There are placards that object to the sudden suspension of more than 10,000 drivers overnight and appeal for compensation and government support. Ragini and her friend Ambika* hold another one asking for worker unions. “BluSmart ki vajah se hum bahar nikle hain. Inhone hi humein kaam sikhaya hain.
India’s Heat Action Plans Are Missing Caste, Income Vulnerabilities

1 month ago | behanbox.com | Saumya Kalia

Heat action plans drafted by states and cities in India do not take enough cognisance of the vulnerabilities of marginalised social groups who labour and live in conditions that exacerbate heat stress, say climate experts and labour activists. In doing so, they often erase local contexts and communities and fail to integrate labour rights or urban planning into heat action.
Health Matters newsletter: Ahoy, an age of frenetic scientific discovery is here

1 month ago | thehindu.com | Ramya Kannan |Zubeda Hamid |Saumya Kalia

(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Ramya Kannan writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)It truly seems to be the age of innovation that we are living in, not in the conventional sense of the term, but innovation at a pace that we have never seen before. It seems as if the development of the COVID vaccine in record time has been like a magic wand that’s opened up a Pandora’s box of possibilities.
‘Gig Platforms Will Intensify the Disposability of Domestic Workers’

2 months ago | behanbox.com | Saumya Kalia

Does a quick domestic help delivery service amount to modern slavery? Unions and activists posed this question in response to Urban Company’s entry into quick commerce with its Insta Maid (later changed to Insta Help) service this month. The app-based service platform offers a range of at-home services – plumbing, cleaning, beauty treatments, repair, etc – many available the same day or within a few hours.
An ASHA Worker’s ‘Vardi’: Sarees As a Symbol of Both Solidarity and Suppression

Mar 26, 2025 | behanbox.com | Saumya Kalia

Lakshmi Kaurav has a fondness for two identical sarees in her cupboard, both coffee-hued (the sunlight lightens it to a rich maroon). Both have a plain cream-beige border, worn the same way every day, with the pallu draped neatly over the shoulder. This dress is her ‘pehchaan (identity)’ as an ASHA facilitator in Madhya Pradesh, she says. The uniform saree’s colour itself changes across the state: in rural Sehore or Mundla Chhawal it is purple, in urban Gwalior or Indore it is a vibrant orange.
Health Matters newsletter: Why sleeping well is important

Mar 18, 2025 | thehindu.com | Ramya Kannan |Zubeda Hamid |Saumya Kalia

(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Ramya Kannan writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)You are going to have to wake up wide for this week’s newsletter, for this time, we are going to tell you about prioritising sleep. A good night’s sleep is highly underrated, but we are just coming to terms with the multiple impacts that sleep, or the lack of it, indeed, have on the human body.
Health Matters newsletter: On measles, hantavirus and other pathogens

Mar 12, 2025 | thehindu.com | Ramya Kannan |Zubeda Hamid |Saumya Kalia

(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Ramya Kannan writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)There is no shying away from the fact that without eternal vigilance at the turnstile of the infectious diseases pathway into the community, we will be allowing pathogens to traipse right into our midst, and if we are further unprepared, then, this will leave a devastating trail of destruction.
Health Matters newsletter: why india needs to fix its obesity crisis

Feb 25, 2025 | thehindu.com | Zubeda Hamid |Ramya Kannan |Saumya Kalia

(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Zubeda Hamid writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)It’s often called the ‘mother of all diseases’ but perhaps not taken as seriously as it should be: obesity, now a crisis of epic proportions in India, needs tackling urgently and effectively. Why is it the ‘mother’?