Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the One Nation One Subscription scheme in his recent address in order to bring about a much-needed change in the academic research and education landscape of India. The Prime Minister emphasised that the scheme or initiative will provide students and researchers with seamless access to a variety of journals and research publications. This move is expected to significantly enhance the quality of education and research in the country, bridging gaps and fostering innovation.
What is the One Nation One Subscription Scheme?
To many, who do not work in the academic research field, this may be a unique concept. Why do researchers need subscription and to what? To explain it simply, any researcher who is conducting a research in the area of their interest needs to refer to a lot of existing knowledge in the same area. This knowledge can be accessed through the already published books, journals, research articles, etc. By having access to the existing knowledge, the research can find gaps that exist currently and fill those gaps through their research.
The One Nation One Subscription scheme ensures that students, researchers and educational institutions across India have access to a vast repository of academic journals, research papers and other scholarly publications. The idea is to centralise the subscriptions at a national level and remove any disparities that may exist across universities and educational institutions, ensuring that all the researchers in India have equal access to the existing literature.
Talking about the scheme, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the One Nation One Subscription scheme will democratise access to knowledge, making high-quality research materials available to every student and researcher, irrespective of their institutional affiliations or financial constraints.
Understanding Academic Research and Needs
As mentioned above, academic researchers depend on a range of databases, academic journals and publications to stay updated with the latest developments in their fields. They use it to validate their hypotheses and build upon existing knowledge. When the researchers have access to high-quality academic subscriptions, it increases their knowledge pool which means that the research that they conduct is rigorous and impactful.
In various universities across India, researchers face many challenges in getting this access because of the limited budgets and small number of subscriptions available to them through their institutes. Also, the researchers cannot individually subscribe to these publications because of their high cost. This lack of access can hinder the research process, leading to gaps in knowledge and innovation. The One Nation One Subscription scheme addresses this critical issue by providing comprehensive access to a wide range of academic resources, ensuring that researchers have the tools they need to excel.
The Research Landscape in India
India has always been a leading player in academic research globally irrespective of subjects and areas of research. There are some premiere institutes in the country like the IITs that support good quality research. According to Scimago Journal and Country Rank, India stands at number sixth globally, contributing a lot to the overall academic research in the world. The quality and impact of research conducted in India have also seen notable improvements, with Indian researchers contributing to significant advancements in various disciplines.
Apart from this, India also boasts of one of the biggest educational infrastructures in the world with more than thousand universities across the country. Lakhs of researchers rigorously undertake their academic work in the country at any given time, contributing to the advancements and progress in knowledge in various areas and fields. Institutes like IITs, IISc and AIIMS have received recognition in the past for some of the crucial research done by students in these institutes. Therefore, it is crucial that more and more universities and colleges in India get similar access to knowledge and produce better results in the future.
Impact of the One Nation One Subscription Scheme
In this regard, the One Nation One Subscription scheme can have a huge impact. Here are some of the expected benefits:
- Enhanced research quality: As mentioned above, access to a larger knowledge pool means better and more rigorous research. This helps in improving the overall quality of research happening in India.
- Promoting collaboration: As a researcher, learning about the good work happening in the same area of your research opens up many doors. The researcher can reach out to others who have done quality work in the past and collaborate with them. It can also open up opportunities for collaboration between different universities within India and across the globe. At the same time, it can also help in fostering a multidisciplinary research environment in the country.
- Reduced inequality: One of the biggest challenges today is that few of the premiere institutes have enough funds to subscribe to best quality publications while the researchers in smaller institutions across the country may not have the same access. Therefore, this scheme aims to remove this inequality by creating a centralised structure.
- Innovation: As it can be understood, more knowledge can allow the researchers to think with more perspectives and come up with new ideas. Therefore, this can also help in boosting innovation in research.
Improvements Needs to the Scheme
While the scheme is being lauded because of the problems it solves, there are still some criticisms that need to be addressed. For instance, some experts have raised concerns about the sustainability and funding of the scheme. “While the scheme is a positive step towards democratizing access to knowledge, it is crucial to ensure that it is financially sustainable in the long run and that the quality of resources is maintained,” said noted educationist Dr Arvind Gupta in one of his interactions with the media after the scheme was announced.
Additionally, suggestions have been made that not only subscription-based but open-access publications should also be organised in a central database to make the overall access smooth and easy.
Conclusion
The One Nation One Subscription scheme represents an important step towards improving the education and research landscape in India. By providing universal access to academic resources, the scheme will empower researchers and students, foster innovation and promote a more inclusive and equitable research environment. As India continues to invest in education and research, initiatives like this will play a crucial role in positioning the country as a global leader in academic research and innovation.
