Having lost both her parents when she was sixteen, her older siblings provided for her education until her matriculation at Bombay's Clare Road Convent.

[4] In 1952, Alva was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, where she made significant contributions to family planning, rights of animals subjected to research and defence strategy, especially the naval sector.

Five days after she resigned as the deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, at 7:45 a.m. (IST) on 20 November 1969, she died from cerebral hemorrhage at her residence in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi described her as a "affable and dedicated worker to the national cause who had blazed a trail for women to follow."

Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Gopal Swarup Pathak, recalling Alva's participation in the Quit India Movement, felt that she left a "tradition of dignity and impartiality."

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then, a leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, recollected that she had carried her five-month old baby into the jail during the Movement and felt that she was had not been treated fairly by the INC.

Leaders across the political spectrum such as Era Sezhiyan, A. K. Gopalan and Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee also paid their tributes to Alva and commended her for having lived a life of simplicity.