Addressing gaps in SVAMITVA

The celebration of National Panchayati Raj Day marks a defining moment in the Constitutional history of India as it aims to invigorate and strengthen grassroots democracy in the country, through the institution of the Panchayati Raj (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992. This day is also remarkable as on 24th April 2020, the Government of India launched a central sector scheme, Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village areas (SVAMITVA). Through the scheme, the government of India aims to formalise land tenure in the abadi (inhabited) area. The abadi area refers to village lands that were exempted from the appropriation of land revenue as this land was not surveyed in many states. The abadi land is known by different terminologies such as Lal Dora in parts of North India or Gaothan in Maharashtra. Lal Dora lands were initially demarcated in Delhi through land settlement in 1908-09 to assign them to the village abadi and was later on extended to the states of Haryana and Punjab and parts of Northern India.

SVAMITVA uses drone technology to legalize land tenure, and ensure financial inclusion through the monetisation of land. It is also expected to help gram panchayats utilize their land for fiscal purposes and improve their tax base. However, there are a few institutional gaps -- who is the custodian of land records, as well as socio-cultural challenges that stand in the way of successful implementation of the policy.

SVAMITVA was launched in the year 2020-21 as a pilot project in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

The government aims to implement the scheme during 2021-25 in a phased manner to gradually cover all the villages. As for the progress of the scheme, approximately 31,46,207 property cards have been distributed so far. Of the total cards issued, Uttar Pradesh (71%) leads followed by Madhya Pradesh (13%), Himachal Pradesh (11%), Uttarakhand (3%), Rajasthan and Karnataka (less than 1% each). Other states are still to start.

Also, there is a gap between the budget estimate (BE) and actual expenditure of the policy. Of the budget estimate of Rs 200 crore in FY 2021-22, the actual expenditure, at Rs 105.53 crore, was merely 52.76% of the proposed amount. In the present financial year, too, the budget estimate has gone down by 25%. Besides, SVAMITVA suffers from a few institutional defects as well -- at the national level, the onus for framework and implementation of the scheme is with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR); at the state level, the responsibility for updation of property information is vested with the state revenue department.

The responsibility for surveying the land, keeping the records, and recording and mutation lies exclusively with the state revenue department while Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were formulated with the aim to attain decentralization and participatory local self-government. Also, local government is listed as a state subject, shifting the onus on the state legislatures to determine various aspects of Panchayati Raj within the constitutional framework. It is to be seen how, on ground, the policy will attain convergence between the functioning of revenue department and Panchayati Raj for successful implementation of the policy. Moreover, the Lal Dora areas of Delhi have been kept out of the scheme as the village in Delhi falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the municipalities.

Through formalisation of land tenure and issuance of property cards, SVAMITVA aims to monetise land in the form of obtaining credit from banks and other financial services.

However, the fact remains that land continues to be perceived as a social asset. The importance attached to the land cannot be solely adjudicated in terms of its economic value or as a means of generating income and growth. Communities at the grassroot level share a deep relationship with land and remain morally and emotionally attached to it.

(The writer is Assistant
Professor, Department of
Political Science, St Xavier’s
College, Jaipur)