Complete Details of Govt's 'One Nation One Subscription Scheme'

The government of India has approved a new central sector scheme, the One Nation One Subscription scheme, to expand access to scholarly journals to students, faculty, researchers, and scientists in the country under one platform. The initiative aims to provide access to nearly 13000 scholarly journals published by 30 international publishers through a unified digital portal to eligible higher educational institutions and research and development laboratories. This is expected to boost research and development (R&D) and innovation in the country.

Who will implement the One Nation One Subscription Scheme? 

• The Department of Higher Education under the Union Ministry of Education will implement the One Nations One Subscription Scheme.
• It will launch a unified portal, “One Nation One Subscription”, through which the institutions can access the journals digitally.
• The portal is expected to go live on 1 January 2025.

What is the One Nation and One Subscription Scheme?

• Currently, various higher educational institutions and research bodies subscribe to national and international journals separately or through a library consortium.
• Under the One National and One Subscription scheme, the government of India will negotiate the subscription price with international publishers of reputed journals and digitally make the journals available to eligible higher educational and research institutions through a single portal.
• This will eliminate the need for the country's higher educational and research institutions to subscribe to these journals individually and reduce the subscription cost.
• The Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC) based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, will coordinate the subscription of these journals by the various eligible educational institutions.
• According to the government of India, more than 6,300 institutions, nearly  1.8 crore students, faculty, and researchers, will be able to potentially avail themselves of the benefits of One Nation One Subscription.
• Apart from the foreign journals, reputed Indian journals are also included in the scheme.

Duration and Allocation of the Scheme 

• The duration of the One Nation One Subscription Scheme is three years. It will start on 1 January 2025 and end on 31st December 2027.
• The total allocated amount for the scheme over three years is  Rs.6,000 crore. It will cover the cost of journal subscriptions.

Eligible Institutions under the One Nation One Subscription Scheme

• All Higher Educational Institutions under the management of the Central or State Government and 
• Research & Development Institutions of the Central Government, 

Role of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)

• The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) will periodically review the usage of the One Nation One Subscription scheme and the publications of Indian authors of these institutions.
• The ANRF is a statutory body under the  Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) 2023 Act under the Department of Science and Technology, Union Ministry of Science and Technology.
• It is the apex body that provides the high-level strategic direction of scientific research in the country, as per the recommendations of the National Education Policy.