In this rather extended essay (~4,500 words), I suggest the term MERIT (Metro-based / Residential, English-speaking, All-India intake, Tough to get into) Colleges as a moniker to replace the IIT / IIM tag we use for elite Indian colleges.

I then use MERIT as a framework to explore facets of privilege in India – national consciousness, rise of subjective merit, and finally blindness to our own privilege.

I tried to publish the entire essay on my site, but I encountered repeated problems in publishing; perhaps the length was the culprit, as a truncated version appeared a couple of times. I dont know why that should be so; perhaps some update created a new default setting. Sigh. I will get this sorted over the next day or two by my site administrator. But until then, I encourage you to visit the following link below to access the essay.

MERIT colleges, national track India, & privilege blindness

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy reading it. And do let me know, either by commenting on LinkedIn, or by emailing me (sp at sajithpai dot com) as to what you thought of it!