The access to higher education for Dalits through positive affirmation is an important step to address representation. However, representation of Dalit women in male-dominated disciplines has received little attention. This article seeks to understand the process of social differentiation that affects Dalit women in engineering colleges. Through the lived experience of these women, the article explicates how caste privilege has transformed itself into merit in the modern era. The entry of Dalit women is facilitated through reservations, but their survival through the exclusionary structures of engineering colleges receives little support. Therefore, this study examines the process of exclusion through the structures of power and privileges operating as a form of meritocracy. The analysis of intersectionality and lack of cultural capital shows how these factors interact, to significantly impact Dalit women, creating unique and intensified barriers to their academic and social integration
