Nithya Pandian
Bio:
Nithya Pandian is a Chennai-based journalist who reports on gender, caste, tribal rights, and social justice issues in South India. With around eight years of experience in journalism, she has worked across several prominent news organisations, including The Indian Express, The News Minute, and BBC Tamil Service. She received the Laadli Award in 2024 for her web news series “How Menstrual Segregation Thrives in Rural and Urban Households in Tamil Nadu,” published in The News Minute. The series examines how menstrual taboos and segregation practices continue to shape the lives of women across both rural and urban Tamil Nadu.
Isolated agrarian communities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu were hard hit by the pandemic, experiencing increased poverty, the diversion of savings toward healthcare, and prolonged illness, forcing families to pull their daughters out of school and marry them off. Years later, attendance rates haven't recovered, and child marriages haven't subsided.
In Rural Tamil Nadu, Child Marriage Was Already Rampant. Then Came the Pandemic.
