Manisha Priyam is Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Visiting Professor, Monash University, Australia; Professor at National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, India; and has academic writings and research on themes of Education Policy Reforms and Youth Lives.Mona G. Mehta is Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Arts at Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, India, and researches the cultural politics of urban transformations.Divya Vaid is Associate Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, and studies social mobility and social inequalities from both macro and micro perspectives.

• Introduction: urban transformations, youth aspirations, and education in India 1. The ‘wall’: reflections on youth aspiration, education and social mobility in India 2. The limits of recovery: coming of age, aspirations and (im)mobility among displaced Pandit youth in Jammu 3. ‘Upgrading’ in precarious times: social mobility, skills and entrepreneurship among pastoralist youth in urbanising Gujarat 4. Shifting ruralities: a case study of higher education, tourism and youth in Banjar sub-district, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh 5. Land dispossession, aspirational asymmetries and dilemmas of the rural youth 6. Bounded aspirations and youth capacity: interrogating public higher education in North India 7. Caste, gig-economy, and youth: the resurgence of a new age caste politics in urban Gujarat 8. Fragmentation, diversity, and inequality: the city and everyday youth culture 9. “If not work, then what?”: work, ambition, and satisfaction among young women in urban India

Manisha Priyam is Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Visiting Professor, Monash University, Australia; Professor at National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, India; and has academic writings and research on themes of Education Policy Reforms and Youth Lives.Mona G. Mehta is Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Arts at Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, India, and researches the cultural politics of urban transformations.Divya Vaid is Associate Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, and studies social mobility and social inequalities from both macro and micro perspectives.

• Introduction: urban transformations, youth aspirations, and education in India 1. The ‘wall’: reflections on youth aspiration, education and social mobility in India 2. The limits of recovery: coming of age, aspirations and (im)mobility among displaced Pandit youth in Jammu 3. ‘Upgrading’ in precarious times: social mobility, skills and entrepreneurship among pastoralist youth in urbanising Gujarat 4. Shifting ruralities: a case study of higher education, tourism and youth in Banjar sub-district, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh 5. Land dispossession, aspirational asymmetries and dilemmas of the rural youth 6. Bounded aspirations and youth capacity: interrogating public higher education in North India 7. Caste, gig-economy, and youth: the resurgence of a new age caste politics in urban Gujarat 8. Fragmentation, diversity, and inequality: the city and everyday youth culture 9. “If not work, then what?”: work, ambition, and satisfaction among young women in urban India

Manisha Priyam is Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Visiting Professor, Monash University, Australia; Professor at National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, India; and has academic writings and research on themes of Education Policy Reforms and Youth Lives.Mona G. Mehta is Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Arts at Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, India, and researches the cultural politics of urban transformations.Divya Vaid is Associate Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, and studies social mobility and social inequalities from both macro and micro perspectives.

• Introduction: urban transformations, youth aspirations, and education in India 1. The ‘wall’: reflections on youth aspiration, education and social mobility in India 2. The limits of recovery: coming of age, aspirations and (im)mobility among displaced Pandit youth in Jammu 3. ‘Upgrading’ in precarious times: social mobility, skills and entrepreneurship among pastoralist youth in urbanising Gujarat 4. Shifting ruralities: a case study of higher education, tourism and youth in Banjar sub-district, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh 5. Land dispossession, aspirational asymmetries and dilemmas of the rural youth 6. Bounded aspirations and youth capacity: interrogating public higher education in North India 7. Caste, gig-economy, and youth: the resurgence of a new age caste politics in urban Gujarat 8. Fragmentation, diversity, and inequality: the city and everyday youth culture 9. “If not work, then what?”: work, ambition, and satisfaction among young women in urban India