A new building stands ready. A gleaming signboard has gone up. Glossy brochures promise the future in bold type: Artificial Intelligence. Data Science. Cyber Security. Machine Learning. Robotics. ‘Admissions Open!’ The names sparkle. Enrol, the pitch suggests, and tomorrow will land neatly in your pocket.

Student unions once occupied a central place in university life across India. Their utility was widely acknowledged. They offered structured avenues for participation beyond the classroom, trained young people in democratic methods, channelled energies into constructive outlets, and linked students with institutional authorities.

India has changed dramatically since this question was first raised decades ago. Universities have multiplied, technology has transformed workplaces and the economy has grown at a much faster pace. Yet one old problem refuses to disappear: the anxious job seeker waiting outside an office, refreshing a recruitment portal or preparing for yet another competitive examination.

What crawls in the dark corners of India's education system? Dreams? Ambition? Hope? Or something uglier like cockroaches...

India is witnessing a huge boom in PhDs. Every year, around 30,000 to 35,000 people earn doctoral degrees. The number of research scholars in universities has reached nearly 350,000. On paper, this looks like an impressive achievement. But the reality on the ground tells a very different story.

Every year, the same dream grows in millions of Indian homes: a son or daughter becomes a doctor. Every year, that dream must pass through a difficult exam. And every year, the mountain of hopes collides with the wall of numbers.