The post-independence history of student movements in India and the ongoing protests

Abstract

ABSTRACTDoes the current upsurge in student protests indicate the advent of a new phase in the history of the student movement in independent India? While a definitive answer to this question can only be given in time, the context from which this current wave springs has certain distinctive elements that are essential for understanding what is unfolding and its potential impact. On the one hand, the last two decades in India have seen a veritable explosion in the numbers of students studying in institutions of higher education and a great widening of the social base from which the student population in higher education is drawn. On the other, there has been near stagnation of the ratio of public expenditure on higher education to GDP. This and the trajectory of the economy have meant the combination of an increasing financial burden on students and their families and a growing lack in actual opportunities to satisfy the varied aspirations driving the willingness to bear this burden. This article will try to draw out the implications of these contradictory phenomena and the changing official discourse on education for understanding the possible transition being experienced by the student movement in the era of neo-liberalism, situating this period in the longer history of the student movement since independence.