Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched physical distribution of property cards under SVAMITVA scheme through video conferencing and said now the beneficiaries will have a right, a legal document of owning their houses.

Almost one lakh beneficiaries from Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have been handed over the legal papers of their houses today and efforts are on to give such property cards to every household in the next three - four years in every village of the country. The ownership will become a great medium to end many disputes in the villages and the farmers can concentrate confidently on their productivity without any mental strain.

About SVAMITVA Scheme

SVAMITVA Scheme is a Central Sector scheme launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on National Panchayat Day i.e 24th April 2020 with an aim to provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India. The demarcation of rural abadi areas would be done using Drone Surveying technology. This would provide the ‘record of rights’ to village household owners possessing houses in inhabited rural areas in villages which, in turn, would enable them to use their property as a financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits from Bank.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) is the Nodal Ministry for implementation of the scheme. In the States, the Revenue Department / Land Records Department will be the Nodal Department and shall carry out the scheme with support of State Panchayati Raj Department. Survey of India shall work as the technology partner for implementation.

Objective

    • To bring financial stability to the citizens in rural India by enabling them to use their property as a financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits.

    • Creation of accurate land records for rural planning.

    • Determination of property tax, which would accrue to the GPs directly in States where it is devolved or else, add to the State exchequer.

    • Creation of survey infrastructure and GIS maps that can be leveraged by any department for their use.

    • To support in preparation of better-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) by making use of GIS maps.

    • To reduce property related disputes and legal cases

Salient Features

    • Establishment of CORS network

        ◦ Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) is a network of reference stations that provide a virtual base station that allows access long-range high accuracy Network RTK corrections. 

        ◦ The CORS Network supports in establishing Ground Control Points, which is an important activity for accurate Georeferencing, ground truthing and demarcation of Lands. 

    • Large Scale Mapping (LSM) using Drone

        ◦ Rural inhabited (abadi) area would be mapped by Survey of India using drone Survey.

        ◦ It would generate high resolution and accurate maps to confer ownership property rights.

        ◦ Based on these maps or data, property cards would be issued to the rural household owners. 

    • Awareness program to sensitize the rural population about the surveying methodology and its benefits.

    • The digital spatial data/maps created under drone survey shall be leveraged for creation of spatial analytical tools to support preparation of GPDP.

    • Online Monitoring and reporting dashboard would monitor the progress of activities.

    • The scheme will be implemented through the regular departmental mechanisms, which will be assisted by Programme Management Units at the National and State level.

    • There are about 6.62 lakh villages in the country which will be eventually covered in this scheme. The entire work is likely to be spread over a period of four years. Presently, the pilot phase is being approved for the year 2020-21. 

    • Pilot Phase will extend to six pilot States (Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand) covering approx. 1 lakh villages and CORS network establishment is planned for two States (Punjab And Rajasthan). 

Background

Survey of rural land in India for Settlement and record of rights had last been completed many decades back and moreover, ABADI (inhabited) area of villages were not surveyed/ mapped in many States. Hence, in the absence of a legal document, the owner of the property in the rural areas are not able to leverage their own property as a financial asset acceptable by the banks for the purpose of providing loans and other financial assistance. Therefore, to provide the legal right of the property to the household owner, there is a need of latest Drone Technology and Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) technology for capturing images. 

The Survey of India (SoI) prepares National Topographic database on all scales, leveraging emerging technologies for topographical mapping at various scales as per user requirements using Airborne-Photography, Satellite Imageries (Stereo/Mono), Airborne-LIDAR, High Resolution Satellite Imageries (HRSI), Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) or Drone platform with Optical/Infra-Red/LIDAR sensors.

The high resolution and `accurate image base maps have facilitated creation of the most durable record of property holdings in these areas with no legacy revenue records. 

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)