Digitizing land records will go a long way in ensuring land reforms as well as lessening the burden on the Indian Judiciary.
Digitization of land records was introduced to computerize all land records to improve transparency in the land records maintenance system, digitize maps and surveys, update all settlement records and minimize the scope of land disputes.
Digitization of land records is important for land reforms as explained below:
- According to the Seventh Five Year Plan document, “Land records form the base for all land reform measures and, therefore, regular periodic updating of land records is essential in all states.”
- The Eight and Ninth Five Year Plan stated that planning and maintaining land records is a prerequisite before any land reform policy is successfully implemented.
- Digitizing land records will provide greater transparency in land titles since property records could be placed in the public domain. Digitization would also enable real-time updates and changes in the land records.
- The transparent land records documents will help in explaining ownership patterns, and revenue administration models, and form the foundation of policies, budgets, and welfare schemes besides providing legal status to land owners/cultivators.
- Land digitization will ensure clear land titles, which will make it easier for the poor to borrow from the formal financial sector.
- Clear titles of land ownership will ensure easy monitoring by government officials, facilitating quicker transactions, and reducing disputes.
- Disputed and unclear land titles hamper the chances of securing agricultural credit by farmers, thus proper investment in land does not happen.
Further, setting the land records right using digitization will help the judiciary as highlighted below:
- As per a study by the World Bank, nearly 66% of litigations pending in Indian courts are related to land disputes and subsequent crimes.
- A NITI Aayog paper suggests that land disputes on average take about 20 years to be resolved. Land disputes add to the burden of the courts, tie up land in litigation, and further impact sectors and projects that are dependent on these disputed land titles.
- Due to the lack of maintenance of actual land records, there have been litigations and property scams. One of the biggest challenges faced was the land ownership issue, which led to property disputes.
- Therefore, the government has decided to make land records available to all to check property fraud.
In making available land records to all and maintaining them in an efficient manner, digitization strikes as a natural choice for its proven utility in other areas of governance. Further, it can help government officials check fraudulent transactions and make it available to the public to verify the land records with the actual conditions on the ground.
So, to successfully digitize land records, the Government has taken various steps, which include:
- Bhoomi Project (Karnataka), 2000: It was the first project in India started by the Karnataka government to digitize land records. The necessary documents like the record of crops, rights, and tenancy have been made available with the help of kiosks.
- This project was soon followed by Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in 2001.
- Dhatitree: It is the first web-based land records management system in India implemented in the state of Assam.
- Digital India Land Records Modernization program (DILRMP): Launched in 2008, its main aim was to computerize all land records, digitize maps, upgrade the survey and settlement records and sustain the same.
- SVAMITVA scheme: It aims to provide rural people with the right to document their residential properties so that they can use their property for economic purposes.
- Unique Land Parcel Identification Number: ULPIN is a 14-digit number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in the hinterlands of rural India, where land records are outdated and often disputed.
- National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS): NGDRS is an in-house advanced software application for the registration of land and is a big step towards national integration and a leap towards ‘One Nation One Software’.
- Integrated Land Management Information System (ILMIS): Under this land-related information is available in a single window. It aims to integrate the land records database with the banks, financial institutions, circle rates, Registration Offices, and other sectors to provide effective and efficient service deliveries by the respective offices.
Thus, the digitization of land records is an essential step toward improving overall governance and the
The government has rightly taken many steps in this direction.