SVAMITVA Scheme: Purpose, advantages and beneficiaries

In a recent move, the Government of India started the allocation of property cards, under SVAMITVA scheme. Dedicated to the residential houses in rural areas, the scheme aims to provide clear ownership documents to the homeowners. While owning a property is a matter of prestige; lack of awareness and procedural hassles have long prevented the homebuyers in rural areas from obtaining proper ownership certificates. Lack of documentation has been the prime reason behind the villagers not being able to use their properties as an asset and neither avail bank loans against the same. With smart assimilation of technology, the SVAMITVA Scheme allows for a clear survey and proper documentation and ownership of the rural properties. What is SVAMITVA scheme? SVAMITVA stands for ‘Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas’. Launched in April 2020, the rural sector scheme aims to map the land in rural areas. Simplistically-

• The SVAMITVA scheme is an effort to map the land parcels in rural inhabited areas using ‘DRONE’ technology and ‘Continuously Operating Reference Stations’ (CORS)
• The mapping exercise will be carried across India between the year 2020 and 2024. In the initial phases, the scheme is being implemented in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand
• The advanced DRONES will create a digital map of the surveyed property. In addition to this, the limits of every revenue block will also be fixed through this digital exercise
• At the end of the survey, respective State governments will create property cards (digitally downloadable) for every house in the village

Why was this scheme needed? Over 60 percent of the Indian population resides in rural areas. Despite this, the ownership documents of the residential properties are not available in most cases. On the contrary, the records of agricultural land have been kept since the time of British occupation. The scheme has been launched to provide clear documents of residential properties in rural areas. What are the benefits of the SVAMITVA Scheme? Hitherto, the focus of policymakers has remained the agricultural and productive land. The rural residential areas will get their dues through this scheme. Some tangible benefits of the scheme will be-

• The rural inhabitants will get clear ‘Title’ deeds and ownership certificates of the houses
• Once the property is clearly defined and demarcated, the owner will be able to fetch justifiable amount in case of sale
• The proposed ‘Property Cards’ will be acceptable in banks for availing bank loans
• Clear ownership will also help in streamlining property tax structure at the Panchayat level
• Presence of clear ownership documents will prevent ever-increasing property disputes
• Accurate land records will help in the efficient development planning of the area
• Every Government department will use interoperable ‘Geographic Information System (GIS)’ maps

What can be the challenges in the implementation of the scheme? Being a nation of rugged terrain, traversing the length and breadth of entire rural India will be a humongous task for the Government machinery. Moreover, the States might find it challenging to allocate resources for this exercise due to other priority schemes already in effect. In addition to this, training and skilling of DRONE operators and doing it exactly the way it is intended, will be a task in itself. Conclusively, although the intent of the Government seems honest, the onus of success lies on efficient use of technology and on-ground implementation of the tools. The Government would do well to take every stakeholder in confidence before going for an exercise involving a sensitive matter of land, especially involving rural areas. Source & Credits: 99acres.com