India's NKC recommends OA for publicly-funded research

The Working Group on Libraries for India's National Knowledge Commission has released its December 7, 2006, letter to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.  (Thanks to Subbiah Arunachalam, a member of the Working Group.)  The group recommends OA in Section 8:

8.0....To enable equitable and universal access to knowledge resources, libraries should be encouraged to create more digital resources by digitizing relevant reading material in different languages, which can be shared at all levels. Peer reviewed research papers resulting from publicly funded research should also be made available through open access channels, subject to copyright regulations.  It is recommended that open standards and free and open source software may be used for the above....

In a separate December 21 letter to the Prime Minister, the NKC recommends a National Knowledge Network for India.  This would essentially bridge the digital divide for the country's research institutions and make any OA policy more effective.

Comment.  Kudos to Subbiah Arunachalam and the rest of the Working Group on Libraries and NKC.  I hope that Prime Minister Singh will quickly approve these practical and much-needed recommendations.