Land Resource Management Measures

Why in news?

The Finance Minister’s budget speech on land resource management to strengthen the land governance will impact the economy positively and will have a ripple effect across sectors.

What is the status of earlier land reforms?

Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) is a Central Sector scheme that attempts to develop an appropriate Integrated Land Information Management System (ILIMS) across the country.

• e-procurement- The computerisation and digitisation of land records, undertaken in the recent past, has enabled the e-procurement of wheat and paddy in the states through the minimum support price scheme.
• Easy assessment- It is convenient for the mandi administration to make an assessment of the food crop sown and the foodgrain produced by individual farmers on the basis of survey entries.
• Ease in transportation- The long queues of tractors crowding the mandis, is not seen these days.
• Transactional efficiencies - The payments under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan) are being done on the basis of computerised land records.
• Ease of living- The ease of living of the farming community has been positively impacted.
• Relief and rehabilitation- Proper and updated computerised land records are extremely essential for relief and rehabilitation in the case of land acquisition.

What land governance initiatives were mentioned in the budget?

• ULPIN- Each land parcel or plot is assigned a unique identification number called the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN).
• It is also called as the “Aadhaar for land”.
• The agencies and services can use the land database from anywhere in the country to authenticate a beneficiary’s identity for the purpose of delivery of services.
• For the farmer and the individual land holder, it would facilitate and enable access to information relating to his entitlements through various means like kiosks and mobile phones.
• This framework, integrated with Aadhaar, will put a check on Benami and fraudulent transfers.
• NGDRS- The National Generic Document Registry System (NGDRS), also called One Nation One Registration Software System is a major initiative for online urban property registration.
• It is only at the time of the final execution of the registration document that the physical presence of the buyer and seller is mandatory as per Section 32A of the Registration Act.
• Since the processes are online, there is a higher degree of transparency in the transaction which reduces disputes and fraudulent transactions.
• NGDRS cuts into the costs, time and processes in registration drastically.
• Transliterating land records- The objective of transliterating the land records in any language under Schedule VIII of the Constitution is to break the linguistic barriers in land records.
• Presently, land records are largely in regional languages.

How significant are the reforms mentioned in the Budget speech?

• The budget speech has underscored the significant role land resource management and governance is expected to play in the resurgence of the national economy in the upcoming years.
• It has strengthened the belief that the use of technology for land governance is strategically convenient and acceptable approach when states are implementing schemes.
• It has emphasised that reformative land governance initiatives will positively impact the citizen as well as other sectors of the economy.
• But all of these will depend on how readily and effectively states take up the land governance initiatives.

Reference

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/union-budget-land-resource-management-economy-7825225/