Aug 31, 2024 09:07 PM IST
States now have the opportunity to invest in upgrading land and property information systems, especially in cities and towns, drawing valuable lessons from the DILRMP implementation in rural India
A key missing piece in India’s sustainable economic growth puzzle is the land and property market. Information gaps hinder the fair and optimal use of resources to transform this sector. Central programmes such as the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) have tried to address some of these gaps. However, DILRMP is mostly aimed at rural India, and not urban and peri-urban areas, where the bulk of transactions occur and where massive spatial and other changes are anticipated.
In this context, the new measures proposed by the Centre this July, as part of a possible incentive-linked package for reforms in land and property information systems, should help. While a new programme has not been announced, some fiscal support for states, especially for urban areas, is expected. Up-to-date land and property records could improve urban governance, land markets, municipal finance as well as ease of living and doing business. It could also reduce property disputes, and enable better infrastructure planning, transparent land acquisition as well as equitable policy and investment decisions. However, the three-year time frame announced may be ambitious given the complexities involved. The biggest takeaway here may be the explicit recognition of states as primary actors in land and property governance. This is important, given the diversity of practices across states as well as variations among states and cities in matters of land and property. The proposed framework could offer states the flexibility to frame context-specific approaches, without being hemmed in by a uniform one-size-fits-all approach. At the same time, it is unclear what form this fiscal support will take at the state level, especially for urban areas.
For rural areas, the proposed reforms will have a renewed spatial focus, including digitising maps and surveys of land related sub-divisions. This is an opportunity to build on the significant progress achieved in textual land records modernisation in rural India and extend it to other forms of land records. If implemented systematically, georeferenced maps could become a part of online property documents, improving transparency and ease of transactions for the average citizen. The focus on spatial data is further reflected in the proposed allocation of a geo-spatially derived unique land and property number or “Bhu-Aadhaar”. This could well be the opportunity to generate unique property IDs that can be connected to property-related processes and databases, including litigation registries. Some states are already moving in this direction with available technologies.
In urban areas, the very recognition of the need for improved urban land and property governance itself marks a notable policy shift. Colonial era prioritisation of agricultural regions, driven by land revenue considerations, neglected documentation in non-agricultural areas, whose legacy continues to be reflected in the ambiguity around institutional roles and records for urban property across India’s cities. As a result, urban records are outdated and incomplete, or maintained in rural formats in many cities and towns. They are unable to capture specific urban complexities, including basics such as recording apartments and building permissions.
The proposed reforms include digitisation of records in urban areas with GIS mapping and establishment of an IT-based system for property record administration to enable regular updating and better tax administration. Integrating databases (currently with various authorities) using unique property IDs could also improve citizen services. However, this is not easy, given the institutional fragmentation between various authorities in urban India. In the states, such coordination will require the involvement of the revenue department, urban development, development authorities, municipalities, planning authorities and housing boards. This can be enabled with policy directions at state level.
States now have the opportunity to invest in upgrading land and property information systems, especially in cities and towns, drawing valuable lessons from the DILRMP implementation in rural India. At the same time, the Centre should remain sensitive to particular aspects as they arise on the ground, given the complex histories surrounding land and property. Appropriate institutional structuring and strengthening is a matter of political will.
Deepika Jha is with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.The views expressed are personal
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