One Nation One Subscription: the Future of Open Access for Indian Academia

India is practicing the largest Democracy in the World. All the Citizens have equal rights in India. India's ambitious policy proposal, One Nation One Subscription (ONOS), envisions a national-level framework to provide universal access to scholarly literature by negotiating a centralized subscription model for academic journals and databases. Launched under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and Department of Science and Technology, ONOS is designed to reduce access disparities and enhance research productivity, particularly among underfunded institutions (Prasad, 2021; Government of India, 2020). This article critically evaluates the potential of ONOS to reshape the landscape of open access in Indian academia. While the policy offers substantial opportunities such as bridging the knowledge gap, improving equity in research access, and supporting the dissemination of scientific information. It also presents significant dilemmas and at the same time it includes challenges in publisher negotiations, sustainability of funding, and the tension between centralized access and decentralized institutional autonomy (Suber, 2012; Singh & Sharma, 2022). Furthermore, this paper situates ONOS within global open-access movements, drawing comparisons with initiatives such as Plan S and transformative agreements in Europe (Coalition S, 2019). Through policy analysis and stakeholder perspectives, the study explores whether ONOS can be a catalyst for inclusive academic growth or a complex trade-off in the broader quest for open knowledge in the Global South.