New Delhi: The Union Cabinet which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched a new initiative called the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) for access to research and scholarly publications. Through this initiative students, researchers and faculty members will get free access to high-quality scientific journals and articles.
What is One Nation One Subscription and why it is important?
ONOS is a Central Sector Scheme which is formed to make scholarly articles and journals available to government-run higher education institutions (HEIs) and R&D laboratories. With a unified subscription for these institutions, students and researchers especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities will be able to break barriers in accessing academic content. ONOS will be managed through a fully digital and user-friendly system, The Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous UGC centre, will look over the national subscription.
ONOS aligns with the goals of Viksit Bharat@2047, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) which aim to enhance the country’s education system and cultivate a culture of innovation.
Why it is important?
By providing a wide range of access to articles and journals, ONOS will-
- Promote more academic publications from researchers from India.
- Give a boost to interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Lessen the knowledge gap between urban and rural institutions.
Who will benefit?
More than 6,300 institutions (approximately 1.8 crore students, faculty members, and researchers) will benefit from the ONOS scheme which includes government colleges, universities, and R&D laboratories. Those ONOS research capabilities in smaller cities and regions will be uplifted where access to world-class journals has been limited. It will also promote both specialised and interdisciplinary research in science, technology, humanities and other varied fields.
Funding and implementation
A total of Rs 6,000 crore has been allocated by the government for ONOS for three consecutive years- 2025, 2026, and 2027. The official portal for ‘One Nation One Subscription’ will be launched by the Department of Higher Education (DHE) soon and institutions will be able to use the platform to retrieve the necessary resources as and when needed. Moreover, the state governments and ministries will conduct awareness campaigns to ensure that students and faculty members are able to utilize the facility efficiently.
Periodic reviews and impact assessment
The use of ONOS resources by institutes will be periodically monitored by ANARF. It will also track the research output by Indian authors for transparency and continuous improvement. Through ONOS, the government aims to democratise education and research in the country. With equitable access to educational resources, the scheme can transform India into a global research and innovation hub.
Students or researchers, irrespective of location will now have access to quality academic material with this initiative of the government.
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