https://www.ashnabutani.comRSS Feed for Ashna ButanienTue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp29bCLtaeR/Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp29bCLtaeR/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/college-feels-like-a-distant-dream/article71060490.eceIn the first week of May, Shreya Rajput from Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria dreamt of studying BSc in Criminology. Ankit Singh from Bihar’s Bihta was sure he would clear the competitive medical entrance test in his seventh attempt. Dhruv Tiwari in Delhi’s Preet Vihar was studying every waking minute, hoping to become the first doctor in his family, and Prem Kumar from Jharkhand thought he would be the first in his immediate family to go to college.Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/college-feels-like-a-distant-dream/article71060490.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/national/uttar-pradesh/spotlight-on-childmarrige-lakshmi-could-have-been-a-child-bride/article71001730.eceSixteen-year-old Lakshmi’s voice travels through the streets of Mubarakpur. She sings in the Hindi-Bhojpuri strain of Chandauli, a district in Uttar Pradesh bordering Bihar. “Apne bojh bhale Papa, lihab utaare, hamra ke deb Papa, jite di ki maari. Kam hi umar mein Papa, kar na biyah ho,” (Papa, even if you get me married thinking I am your burden, you would have killed me while I am still alive. Papa, please don’t marry me off at such a young age).Lakshmi wrote the song for her father when she w...Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/uttar-pradesh/spotlight-on-childmarrige-lakshmi-could-have-been-a-child-bride/article71001730.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/national/uttar-pradesh/new-phones-old-woes-anganwadi-workers-struggle-with-patchy-internet-digital-disconnect-in-up-villages/article70999662.eceIn the villages of Uttar Pradesh’s Naugarh block in Chandauli district, surrounded by forests on all sides, Internet connectivity is still patchy in several areas. While anganwadi workers received new mobile phones this month from the government, accompanied with expectations of conducting a chunk of their work online, connectivity issues were not taken into consideration, they said. During a meeting at Amdaha village, anganwadi workers from other villages in the block, including Marwatiya, Deori...Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/uttar-pradesh/new-phones-old-woes-anganwadi-workers-struggle-with-patchy-internet-digital-disconnect-in-up-villages/article70999662.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/national/trans-amendment-act-may-disrupt-gender-affirmative-care-warn-health-practitioners/article70816216.eceHealth practitioners across the country have raised concerns regarding the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act 2026, stating that it will “disrupt established treatment protocol”, adding that many might stop providing gender-affirmative care “fearing legal consequences”.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/trans-amendment-act-may-disrupt-gender-affirmative-care-warn-health-practitioners/article70816216.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/unblock-our-lives-women-gig-workers-protest-in-delhi/article70599304.eceIn ‘Nosedive’, an episode in Black Mirror, a popular dystopian TV show which explores the dark side of technology, a woman’s life starts falling apart when her rating begins to drop. She anxiously checks her smartphone as it buzzes many times a day, because every interaction she has will determine where she stands on a scale from 0 to 5 in a world where ratings are a marker of socio-economic status.Ten years after this episode stirred a conversation on the dangers of an algorithmically-driven so...Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/unblock-our-lives-women-gig-workers-protest-in-delhi/article70599304.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/national/haryana/in-haryana-the-birth-of-a-son/article70516403.eceThe Singwai household at Dhani Bhojraj village in Haryana’s Fatehabad district is filled with the sounds of mirth and merriment. Trophies, from dance, kabaddi and kho-kho competitions, earned by the ten daughters of the family line a shelf above their mother’s bed. Above the trophies, photos of baby boys are taped to the wall.Thirteen-year-old Sushila, the third daughter of Sunita and Sanjay Singwai, holds up a drawing she made last year of an imagined brother, a smiling baby surrounded by butt...Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/haryana/in-haryana-the-birth-of-a-son/article70516403.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/wanted-sons-unwanted-daughters-sex-determination-gets-an-online-twist/article70380042.eceDisclaimer: Sex determination is illegal and a punishable offence under the Pre-Conception (PC) and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 1994After having three daughters, my husband would get drunk and threaten me with divorce if I did not give him a son,” says Delhi-based Pushpa (name changed to protect privacy). Then one day, 11 years later, when the tests revealed a male foetus, she was relieved. The pressure from the family would ease.Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/wanted-sons-unwanted-daughters-sex-determination-gets-an-online-twist/article70380042.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/toxic-air-tense-mothers-polluted-airputs-pregnant-women-babies-at-risk/article70197804.eceAs New Delhi’s air quality deteriorated after Deepavali, pregnant women find themselves gasping for breath in a city engulfed in toxic smog.For Gazala Jamshed, 31, who is in her final trimester, the past week has been suffocating with air quality swinging between “poor” and “very poor”. “Breathing becomes difficult during pregnancy. It only got worse after Deepavali this year. I am more concerned about how pollution will affect my baby,” she said. Soon after delivery, Ms. Jamshed plans to travel...Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0100https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/toxic-air-tense-mothers-polluted-airputs-pregnant-women-babies-at-risk/article70197804.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/without-the-fight-there-are-no-rights-terminated-anganwadi-workers-in-delhi-seek-reinstatement/article69325879.eceIn the last two years, Pushpa Mitra, 40, replaced the disappointment, bitterness, and heartbreak lingering at her home in Delhi’s Pushp Vihar with the sweet smells of cookie dough and cake batter. Now a baker by profession, Mitra says,“Main mehnat se ghabraati nahi, magar mehnat ka phal bhi milna chahiye (I am not afraid of hard work, but it should yield fruit).” Mitra refers to her previous job as an anganwadi worker. She was terminated from service three years ago for protesting for better pay...Sat, 15 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/without-the-fight-there-are-no-rights-terminated-anganwadi-workers-in-delhi-seek-reinstatement/article69325879.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/the-case-of-the-missing-students/article68918469.eceUntil two years ago, Ravi’s days in Jharkhand were filled with playing with friends, singing and piano practice with his bandmates for competitions, and working on school projects. These activities disappeared from his daily routine when he moved to Delhi and enrolled in a coaching institute. Now in Class 12, Ravi (name changed upon request), says, “I hardly move outside this building.” He lives and attends coaching classes within, barely stepping out.Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/the-case-of-the-missing-students/article68918469.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/news/national/haryana/a-phone-of-her-own/article68335380.eceIn the winding alleys of Haryana’s Nalwa village, Hisar district, just about 165 km west of New Delhi, India’s Capital, a group of teenage girls takes time out from studying and housework to meet in the evening. They talk of leaving, to study in a bigger city and build a life of their own. For Raveena Saroha, 16, the appeal of going out to study stems from her desire to “experience the world outside”. Saroha, who hails from a family of farm labourers, has relatives who moved to Delhi, and who, in...Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0100https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/haryana/a-phone-of-her-own/article68335380.ecehttps://www.thequint.com/photos/six-women-gb-road-trafficked-rescue-rehabilitation-now-sell-tote-bags-for-livingWhen she was 15 years old, she was told that she would get a stitching job in an export factory in Delhi but she never did. Instead, she was 'sold' in Delhi’s red-light area, GB Road, where she spent the next 30 years of her life. Up until a year ago, she wanted to leave but could not.  In 2022, however, with support from NGOs Savera and Shakti Vahini, and the hope of creating a better future for herself, she left the job.  Today, the woman, aged 45, stitches tote bags and makes earrings for a l...Sun, 12 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thequint.com/photos/six-women-gb-road-trafficked-rescue-rehabilitation-now-sell-tote-bags-for-livinghttps://www.thequint.com/photos/mgnrega-workers-bihar-jantar-mantar-protests-delhi-app-based-attendance-budget-allocation-aadhar#4Since 13 February, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers from Bihar have been assembling peacefully at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to put forth their demand to roll back mandatory app-based attendance.  Marking attendance on the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMPS) app daily was mandatory in January. Since then, many claim, they have "lost attendance and in turn, wages due to weak network."Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thequint.com/photos/mgnrega-workers-bihar-jantar-mantar-protests-delhi-app-based-attendance-budget-allocation-aadhar#4https://www.thequint.com/photos/women-female-bus-drivers-dtc-delhi-public-transport"Earlier, other women would question why we were learning how to drive... But now that we have a job with the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), they look up to us. They are inspired, and they want to learn driving, too,” said Komal Choudhury, 23, who hails from Rajasthan's Mundawa.  Komal is among the 34 women bus drivers in the DTC fleet. After free training provided by the Delhi government, the women were inducted into the fleet – and most of them were hired in the last six months.Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thequint.com/photos/women-female-bus-drivers-dtc-delhi-public-transporthttps://www.thequint.com/photos/cold-wave-delhi-city-sleeps-workers-auto-drivers-security-guards-work-through-the-night#1As the cold wave grips Delhi, with the city recording 1.8 degrees as the lowest temperature one night this week, not everyone is indoors. On one of the coldest nights this winter -- 5 January -- The Quint met delivery executives, auto drivers, and security guards who keep the city functional at night, despite the cold. Most are daily wage labourers who migrated to the Capital from other places in a bid to earn a livelihood.Sat, 07 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thequint.com/photos/cold-wave-delhi-city-sleeps-workers-auto-drivers-security-guards-work-through-the-night#1https://www.thequint.com/photos/kolkata-peeli-taxi-ambassador-hindustan-motors-era-drawing-to-endThe yellow Ambassador car or the peeli taxi is woven into Kolkata's fabric ever since the first one hit the roads back in the '60s. For residents, it's more than just a mode of commute, the peeli taxi is a ride down nostalgia. Each year, however, the streets see fewer yellow taxis than the previous one. This is because yellow Ambassadors have not been in production since 2014, and taxi drivers say that their cars will touch the 15-year-mark very soon -- rendering them unusable.  Does this mark t...Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000https://www.thequint.com/photos/kolkata-peeli-taxi-ambassador-hindustan-motors-era-drawing-to-end