The One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme, accredited by the Union Cupboard on Monday with a budgetary allocation of Rs 6,000 crore, has been hailed by professors as it is going to foster interdisciplinary research and bridge the hole in entry to tutorial assets.
Nevertheless, many have raised considerations over centralising management over tutorial assets and the way tutorial freedom could also be impacted if solely such analysis supplies can be found that may align with the federal government agenda.
The ONOS scheme plans to offer tutorial journal subscriptions to universities within the nation. A corpus of Rs 6,000 crore has been sanctioned for the initiative which goals to “present country-wide entry to worldwide high-impact scholarly analysis articles and journal publications” to researchers in central and state universities throughout India.
As many as 30 main worldwide publishers have been included on this scheme and 13,000 e-journals will probably be made accessible via nationwide subscription coordinated by the Info and Library Community (INFLIBNET), in keeping with a PIB press launch. The scheme additionally goals to encourage core and interdisciplinary analysis in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, the place entry to those journals is likely to be troublesome. The Indian Categorical spoke to professors for his or her views on the scheme.
Nice initiative, say professors
Dr Richa Ashma, assistant professor on the division of zoology, Savitribai Phule Pune College, stated, “I feel it is a nice initiative of the Authorities of India that may actually assist researchers pan-India. Even on the college degree, researchers, college students, and school wouldn’t have entry to most of the journals. To get entry to those analysis paper, they need to pay the subscription payment of the journal.”
Dr Pravina Sanjay Ugile-Pawar, professor on the division of physics at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada College (BAMU), Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, opined that the scheme could be useful. “In my profession, I’ve confronted points with many journal subscriptions like IOP and RSC. My college has subscriptions for a lot of journals so I’ve not confronted a problem for these. However just a few journals that my college shouldn’t be subscribed to, then it turns into very troublesome for me. So I feel the ONOS scheme will assist to unravel this drawback,” she stated.
Considerations relating to the scheme
Dr Ajay Dhawale, professor and HOD of the English division at Tuljaram Chaturchand Faculty, Baramati, raised some considerations concerning the scheme. “ONOS is a daring initiative with the potential to remodel entry to analysis and drive innovation throughout India. By bridging useful resource gaps, it guarantees important assist for researchers in underprivileged areas. Nevertheless, centralizing management over such assets raises important considerations about its influence on tutorial freedom and the danger of aligning analysis priorities with particular agendas,” stated Dr Dhawale.
“Centralizing management of analysis assets beneath a single company like INFLIBNET raises severe considerations. There’s a threat that this platform may very well be used to align analysis priorities with the federal government’s agenda, subtly influencing narratives and discouraging important voices. This actual worry can’t be ignored, particularly in a system the place transparency shouldn’t be at all times assured,” added Dr Dhawale.
For ONOS to really profit schooling and analysis, it should have clear safeguards in opposition to misuse. To make sure accountability and forestall misuse, ONOS ought to undertake a system of full transparency. “This implies sharing clear and detailed details about how assets are allotted, what analysis is being prioritised, and the way the system is getting used,” he added.
Dr. Giribala Bondle, affiliate professor of chemistry at BAMU additionally raised an essential concern. “Offering entry to 30 publishers shouldn’t be sufficient. Most journals nowadays are open entry and we lack the funding to get our analysis printed in these journals. We find yourself collaborating with worldwide researchers to pay the charges which is round Rs 1-1.5 lakh. Beforehand, even the UGC had offered us journals however lots of them weren’t credible journals. In a means, we’re being compelled to publish in these non-credible journals, however we don’t do it. We’d like assist for publishing our work in open entry journals,” stated Dr Bondle.
Dr Rahul Magar, assistant professor of historical past at SPPU, stated , “It’s a excellent scheme, however there are three points that may come up throughout implementation. First is that humanities and social sciences are at all times given much less significance. What sort of journals will probably be made accessible for these topics? The scheme is excellent for science, however humanities shouldn’t be ignored. Second, there are various native language publications like Bhartiya Itihas Ani Sanskruti which are hardcopies and wouldn’t have a web-based presence. How will these be made accessible? English is the language of data as we speak however many students in Maharashtra write in Marathi, because it additionally has larger readership. Will these Marathi journals and different native language journals even be included?”
The third challenge, Dr Magar stated, is centralisation and the ensuing politicisation of data. There’s the worry that any occasion that involves energy will attempt to unfold its ideology and suppress the other ideology.
“This is applicable much more to a topic like historical past, the place we can’t say what’s the reality in a particular means, it’s a steady course of. If steps are taken to allay these attainable points, the scheme is a superb one,” stated Dr Magar.
