While this falls short of the access to all Indians that was envisioned, it is nevertheless a one-of-its-kind agreement globally: a welcome first step but hopefully not the end of the story.
One solution could be for India to set up a truly global family of journals, with global editorial boards, that scientists around the world will want to publish in.
All citizens have a right to know the output of academic research funded through public money. However, the pay-walls between the research output and readers have become much more formidable barriers in recent years. Authors and/or their institutions, and readers thus have to shell out substantial money to access the published results while commercial publishers make very high profit. Do researchers and readers really need to spend the hard-to-get research funds for open access when any published paper can be available to the desiring reader through email exchanges between reader and author involving request for, and sharing of the pdf file?
Today, knowledge has been colonized. You are being told you cannot make knowledge without paying a tax and securing a license. How is this different than being told you may not make salt without paying a tax and securing a permit?
The practice of authors or their funders paying for readers to read the work remains a fertile ground for may unwarranted practices and consequences.
