Recently, the Government of India announced the launching of the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS), a visionary initiative, aimed at providing all the eligible institutions of the country a universal access to knowledge resources, digital content, and educational materials through a single subscription platform. This is a part of the Digital India campaign, which focuses on transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The platform proposes to offer diverse digital content such as e-books, academic journals, and educational videos from multiple publishers, universities, and research institutions. As declared, it will also support free or subsidized access for economically weaker sections. The initiative is set to be launched officially on January 1, 2025.
As per the plan, ONOS will provide users with free access to more than 13,400 international journals from 30 major publishers, including Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley. It aims to cover nearly 1.8 crore students, faculty, and researchers across 6,380 institutions in the country including 451 state public universities, 4,864 colleges, and 172 institutes of national importance. The government has allocated a budget of ₹6,000 crore for the next three years for this new initiative. It is proposed to be managed through a centralized digital platform under the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous body under the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Till now, government support towards access to reputed international journals was being provided through many different platforms like INFLIBNET of UGC, DeLCON (DBT’s eLibrary Consortium), CeRA (Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture of ICAR) etc. and free access to variable sets of resources were available only to select groups of government institutions through these platforms. However, the new initiative will now eliminate the need for multiple subscriptions through different platforms, reducing costs for individuals and institutions alike. It is also expected to reduce the digital divide by providing access to quality resources for students in rural and underprivileged areas as well.
The ONOS initiative is expected to significantly improve India’s academic landscape by providing universal access to high-value resources from nationally and internationally renowned publishers, fostering innovation, and promoting interdisciplinary research across the country. This is also in conformity with the commitment of the government declared through the National Education Policy 2020 to achieving inclusive and equitable access to education and knowledge.
In addition to global resources, the platform will promote content created by Indian authors, scholars, and institutions. It also aims to encourage the inclusion of diverse content available in regional and vernacular languages to cater to diverse linguistic groups in the country. However, the successful implementation of the initiative across the country will depend largely on the availability of robust technological infrastructure including last-mile connectivity with efficient internet access, strategic partnerships, and active involvement of the stakeholders at different levels.
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