Friends, Many in India are celebrating the official announcement of the Cabinet's approval of the ONOS proposal ( to the coffers thirty overseas journal publishers, some of whom report profit margins of over 30% year after year, somewhat like Mastercard and Visa (please see: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5142491/sen-josh-hawley-visa-mastercard-this-...). On top of it ANRF would underwrite the costs incurred by Govt supported academic and other research organizations towards paying APC to get papers published by researchers and students from these institutions in the journals published by these publishers. Our government talks all the time about 'Make in India,' but these two programmes will actually transfer huge sums of money, Indian taxpayers' money, to the coffers of thirty overseas journal publishers, some of whom report profit margins of over 30% year after year, somewhat like Mastercard and Visa (please see the video : https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5142491/sen-josh-hawley-visa-mastercard-this-...). In the past, Western imperialist powers had to send armies and occupy our lands, subjugate our people , enslave us and plunder our wealth. Now, in what could be called modern day imperialism, we are willingly, on our own accord, giving away not only our research papers but also pay for them to be published in journals published in the west and import those journals at huge costs enriching those publishing companies and indirectly their countries. This is certainly not in tune with the oft-repeated dictums 'Make in India,' and 'Atma nirbhar Bharat.' It looks more like 'give away India' ONOS has been on and off for the past few years and I do not understand why it should have been implemented at a time when the global availability of OA content is on the rise year after year as seen from all the major databases. I do not also understand why Indian researchers should pay a huge sum of taxpayers' money as APC to get their work published when there are so many alternatives to publish without paying. The argument that if they want to publish in 'prestigious outlets to win approbation, is bunk. These talks about prestige and ranking are all bogus, points out Tatineni Prem Kumar, an independent scholar-analyst-philathropher: "Ranking of educational institutions has become a joke in India and also in the world. In India, as per NIFR, IIT Madras is number 1 in the country and IIT Bombay occupies the 5th or 6th position, According to world rankings IIT Bombay is the best in India occupying the 115th or so position, IIT Mardas is way below around 270 or so. Why is such wide disparity?," he asks. Also in a recent ranking, everyone in Indian Academia was stunned to see IISc ranked 50th in research and institutions like Saveetha and Shoolini University occupying top spots." Let us look at what is happening at the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) in Germany, which is thrilled to announce the launch of the Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative “DeSci Connect”. [Courtesy: STM Publishing News] "DeSci Connect aims to transform scientific collaboration by embracing principles of *openness, transparency, and democratization*. Through the integration of Web3 technologies, the initiative fosters secure, transparent, and accountable data sharing, creating new pathways for scientific discovery. "The MPDL initiative will actively engage with the international DeSci movement to understand and shape its impact on the scientific community and to influence and guide the movement's trajectory by staying at the forefront of decentralized science developments. It will provide strategic advice to MPG management and researchers, highlighting potential new DeSci tools and methodologies that could enhance scientific outcomes. DeSci Connect aims to integrate these innovative approaches, to empower researchers to achieve greater transparency, collaboration, and efficiency in their work." “The Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative represents a bold step towards a new era in science where collaborative and equitable research practices flourish,” said Friederike Kleinfercher, Head of the Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative. “By harnessing blockchain technology, we are building an environment where scientific findings are more accessible, accountable, and secure for all.” *Beyond open data access, DeSci Connect fosters groundbreaking web3-models for research funding and evaluation, enabling scientists to gain direct support from the community and paving the way for sustainable, community-backed research*. To know more about the Max Planck Decentralized Science Initiative DeSci Connect and its activities, please visit: https://www.mpdl.mpg.de/forschungsservices/servicekatalog/45-service/1019-de... . With warm regards, Arun http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4398-4658 http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-9925-2009