Mere Papa meri Mummy ko bahut takleef dete the,” said Rupinder*, about 16, sharing private family horrors with my class, with a quietly defiant courage. “Agar mere husband mujhe takleef denge, toh main bhi usko mooh-tod jawab de sakti hoon (My father hurt my mother very much. If my husband treats me badly, I too can give him a ‘jaw-breaking’ reply,” she said, and the class — and I  — roared in approval.

I was in Nagpur last week, where educationist Raju Kendre had invited me to conduct a workshop for his Eklavya India Foundation, mainly for students from Dalit and other historically marginalised communities. My class of about 70 students from across India, were 16-to-18-year-olds, who had finished Std 12, and were preparing for undergraduate entrance examinations in law, social sciences, economics, etc. They also have a Global Scholars Programme, and their students have got admission at top universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, and Harvard. Founded in 2017, Eklavya India says it has trained 2000+ students, with 1500+ admitted to 80+ top universities.