The study on which this paper is based was supported by the American Jewish World Service. I am grateful to Vimala Ramachandran from the Education Resource Unit, Jyotsana Jha, Niveditha Menon and the team from the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, and Manjima Bhattacharya for their perceptive and helpful remarks during the course of the study. Nagendra Nagpal and his team from Centre for Education Research and Practice, Jaipur and Upendra Reddy provided valuable insights and supported the field work. Kiran Bhatty and Kameshwari Jyandhala reviewed and commented on the paper, because of which the paper improved significantly. I am grateful for their extremely insightful and helpful comments. I am especially grateful to Rajat Kathuria, Director, and Saon Ray, Senior Fellow, as well as the staff at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), for their support. Finally, I am grateful to all the people who provided information and agreed to be interviewed. I learned a great deal from them.
