ABSTRACT
The chapter begins by noting the demographic changes within student communities at public universities, following the implementation of affirmative action policies in India. In this, it sustainably builds a case against the detractors of caste-based reservation by analysing current data relating to the historical composition of university entrants. However, Mahajan contends that a token policy of structural ‘access’ does little to correct historical prejudice, insofar as infrastructures of communication and social capital are stacked against the marginalized. For the university to really open itself up to those systemically excluded from its precincts, there needs to be institutional encouragement of a public culture of science. Scientists and scientific workers within universities are called upon to disenchant and demystify the language of specialization. The author insists on broad-based knowledge-coalitions working in the vernacular languages to design quality textbooks, deliver public lectures and turn the sciences towards the everyday life of democratic citizenship.
