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
- 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