Hon’ble Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj had issued guidelines regarding the SWAMITVA scheme recently. The scheme was launched on the National Panchayati Raj Day, April 24th, 2020.
SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme is a joint collaborative effort of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, NIC, MeitY, State Panchayati Raj Department, State Revenue Department and Survey of India for the benefit of millions of villagers living near urban areas.
Principal aim of this scheme was to provide an integrated property validation solution for the rural India, where the heart of the nation reside. It is a scheme for mapping the land parcels in rural inhabited areas using Drone Technology and Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) technological tools. GIS tools were also used in the completion of the project.
The mapping will be done across the country in a phase – wise manner over a period of four years – from 2020 to 2024. The scheme will help in streamlining planning and revenue collection in the rural arches and ensuring clarity on the property rights of the poor peasants. The scheme will enable creation of better – quality Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs), using the maps created under this programme.
The Gram Panchayats are constitutionally mandated for preparation of the Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) for economic development and social justice. The GPDP is based on a participatory process in convergence with schemes of all related Central Ministries and Line Departments related to 29 subjects.
Present Coverage Area: The program is currently being implemented in six states – Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand.
We may be aware that the people living in villages within Village Aabadi boundary (popularly known as Lal Dora, Aabadi Deh or village Firni) were not having any documents of their property ownership since independence.
Haryana signed a MoU with the Survey of India (SoI) and carried out Drone Flying and village mapping. Sirsi (Karnal), first village of country was made Lal Dora free and ownership deed titles were distributed to each owner on 26-01-2020.
The initiative was presented to the Government of India on 24th March 2020. The Government of India (GoI) highly appreciated the states’ initiative and launched a National scheme SVAMITVA in 6 States (Haryana, UP, MP, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttrakhand) on pilot basis. It was a great pleasure moment for the nation that Hon’ble Prime Minister of India inaugurated SVAMITVA scheme in these 6 States on 11-OCT-2020 at 11 am.
It is first time in history of independent India that rural panchayat habitation / houses (Village Aabadi area house) owners would have duly authorised ownership papers (like urban owners) and can get bank loan etc. based on it.
Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Survey of India, NIC, State Revenue Authorities and State Panchayat Departments and selected districts were actively involved. NIC is proud to be associated and extend ICT / GIS services for the property card and Rural Spatial Planning (GPDP). Details can be seen at the following website https://svamitva.nic.in. One lakh SMS were sent to put property cards in hands of the owners in 763 villages across six states.
Fraud developers and their owners and corrupt politicians will not be able to extend ‘lal dora’ adjoining urban areas and become rich overnight. The villagers will be benefited and they will have some papers to prove their property ownership. Day is not far off, when entire around 6 lakh villages will be ‘droned and mapped’, which will revolutionise the villages.
Did I heard it right or wrong? Rajiv Gandhi brought computers to India, but did he implement any projects to help the rural areas and masses living there? None. It is this Modi Government which is thinking of projects which will make the lives of rural poor and downtrodden better and property disputes will reduce drastically.
There is silent revolution in the making.
