Ahan Joshua Penkar

Data Journalist and reporter in New York. I am currently pursuing a Masters in data journalism at Columbia Journalism School. I used to be a fact checker at The Caravan Magazine where I wrote about conflict, religion and local politics. I use my long-form and narrative writing skills to tell interesting stories about society using data.

You can find a lot of my projects on my GitHub. I'm on Twitter as @ahanjpenkar and you can email me here.

Picture of Ahan Penkar

Here are some projects where I scraped, analysed and visualised data.

Modi's Hugs
Modi's Hugs

A fun piece reading into who the Indian Prime Minister likes to hug
2019 Election: Manifesto Update
2019 Election: Manifesto Update

Fact checking and assesing over 400 promises made by the incumbent BJP government before the 2019 election.
Keeping the Faith

Mapping anti-conversion laws in different states, and made case studies for 2 states. Analysed how these laws caused spikes in violence against the minority community of Christians in India.

Illustrator Python R
Modi's Hugs
Safe Havens

Visualised surface level data scraped from the DPIIT. Looking at why island nations like Mauritius, The Cayman Islands and the Virgin Islands are among the highest investors into India

Illustrator Python R OpenRefine
Modi's Hugs
Out of Their League

Analysed the January transfer window using various kinds of visualisations. Added scrollytelling elements.

Illustrator Python R RawGraphs

Here are some pieces I wrote and Reported.

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Chinese hackers attack Cambodian opposition party

Worked with the legal department of the Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen to report on how Chinese Hackers targeted the Cambodian opposition party.
2019 Election: Manifesto Update
Elixir of Lies

Hindutva groups turn to cow urine for protection in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019 Election: Manifesto Update
Glaring gaps in investigation into attack on riot victim Mohd Nasir

On 24 February, Nasir, a resident of North Ghonda, in Delhi, lost his left eye to a gunshot when he was attacked during the violence that erupted in the north-east district

2019 Election: Manifesto Update
Fact Checking Modi

Fact Check: The lies and misdirections of the Modi government during the coronavirus lockdown
2019 Election: Manifesto Update
A Lockdown and a Hard Place

A photo essay about the plight of millions of migrants trying to escape a sudden and brutal lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020
2019 Election: Manifesto Update
No Kashmiris Please

Kashmiris spoke to me about the many hurdles they face with regard to housing, even in Muslim dominated areas

2019 Election: Manifesto Update
How Kejriwal is failing Delhi’s sewage workers

A report on how the Delhi government is failing to eliminate manual scavenging in the city, and how the workers are being exploited by contractors. This piece is a review of numerous policy initiatives.

2019 Election: Manifesto Update
Aam Aadmi Party and The Citizenship Amendment Act

Arvind Kejriwal’s incongruous comments on the Citizenship Act during his interviews ahead of the Delhi elections have been typical of the party’s ambiguous position on the CAA and the protests against it.

I also worked as a Video Producer

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Unequal Law: Sanitation workers at National Law University, Delhi

On 10 February, several members of the housekeeping staff of the National Law University, Delhi, along with students, staged a sit-in outside the campus. They were protesting the workers’ dismissals by the university over a month ago when a new contractor was hired for housekeeping services.

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Revolution in their blood

Two women whose fathers were killed by Khalistanis on why they are protesting the farm laws. Harinder Bindu and Sonia Mann have become prominent faces at the ongoing farmers' movement. Both Bindu and Mann's fathers were gunned down by Khalistanis during the militancy in Punjab, in the early 1990s.