Nothing is pleasanter than exploring a library – Walter Landor
Dr. Debajyoti Goswami
(goswamidj@yahoo.in)
Dr. Pingki Sarma
The Government of India has set the goal of Viksitbharat@2047, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) for the transformation of the nation into a developed entity by the centenary of its independence in 2047. This will encompass diverse facets of development such as economic prosperity, social advancement, environmental sustainability, and effective governance of India.
The Viksitbharat@2047 projects Indian youth to be positioned as the vanguard in leading India towards a recessive Bharat by 2047. The NEP 2020 has identified research as a corequisite for outstanding education and development in our country. The goal of the establishment of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) by the Government of India was a step to motivate in this direction. With all these strategies, the government of India has given importance to research and development in our country in the Amrit Kaal. At the announcement of “One Nation One Subscription” (ONOS) after the approval of the Union Cabinet, a clarion call of “Jai Anusandhan” was given to the people of India for creating the importance of research and development. The One Nation One Subscription scheme is to provide country-wide access to international high-impact scholarly research articles and journal publications to students, faculty, and researchers of all higher education institutions managed by the central government and state governments and research & development institutions of the central government. The aim of the ONOS scheme is to position India as a global hub for research, learning, and knowledge while fostering interdisciplinary studies and bridging the gap in the access of academic resources. The initiative will open a goldmine of knowledge available in top-quality scholarly journals to nearly 1.8 crore students, faculty, researchers, and scientists of all disciplines, including those in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, thereby encouraging core as well as interdisciplinary research in the country. A total of 30 major international journal publishers have been included in One Nation One Subscription. All of the nearly 13,000 e-journals published by these publishers will now be accessible to more than 6,300 government higher education institutions and central government R&D institutions. Access to journals will be provided through a national subscription coordinated by the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous interuniversity centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC), through an entirely digital process. There are 30 global publishers—including Elsevier Science Direct, Taylor and Francis, and Oxford University Press—who have already been included in the list under ONOS, and more were on their way. This will enable the research fraternity to access high-quality publications, which are expensive for college/school-level students. Moreover, it is very often difficult to access even one good publication.”
The Department of Higher Education will maintain the unified portal “One Nation One Subscription,” through which the institutions will be able to access the journals. The ANRF will periodically review the usage of One Nation One Subscription and publications of Indian authors of these institutions. At the announcement of the Government of India, the public university academics and academic institutions nationwide now have paywalled journals, publications, and research materials at their fingertips. One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)’ will facilitate a one-stop digital library with institutional access to global research in various academic disciplines.
The ONOS will replace individual institutional journal subscriptions. The central payments will be coordinated by INFLIBNET. Regarding the uninterrupted services and timely completion of the scheme, a total of about Rs. 6,000 crore has been allocated for One Nation One Subscription for three (3) calendar years, 2025, 2026, and 2027, as a new Central Sector Scheme.
One Nation One Subscription will build on and further enhance the scope and reach of the range of initiatives undertaken by the Government of India over the past decade in the domains of education, for maximizing access to quality higher education for the youth of India. Although the Indian government’s plan to start such a national publication reservoir is not new in the world, yet this is a very bold step considering inclusive education policy. Previously, the German and Uruguayan governments had introduced similar national access to research material.
This will supplement the ANRF initiative to promote research and development and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout government universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D laboratories.
The scheme, which will be launched on January 1, will help students and researchers from diverse institutions, including under-resourced colleges, have access to the latest findings, enabling quality research and innovation. It will also encourage interdisciplinary studies by providing a shared platform for collaborative research across disciplines, breaking silos in academia. It will support youth empowerment by democratising access to global knowledge. We expect that the state governments will carry out campaigns in association with the HEIs in the state for maximising usage of the unique facility by students, faculty, and researchers of all government institutions. The best practice from the stakeholders of HEIs will definitely pave the way for quality research and innovation to promote the global research ecosystem.