There is a deep gulf between institutions of higher education and basic education in India, fostered to a large extent by a skewed education policy. The contributors to this important volume start from the premise that universities have a social obligation and that extension programmes are a way of fulfilling them. They set out the empirical contours of the grassroots work which establishes the interface of universities with societies. In doing so the volume spells out the different dimensions of and kinds of linkages between higher and basic education. Bringing together scholars and activists from diverse fields, it shows that basic education is taking place in different settings and locations despite formidable obstacles.