India’s villages, in the last ten years, have witnessed an overall comprehensive development, encompassing the socio-economic welfare of its inhabitants. From toilets to tap water connections, the villages are no longer devoid of the most basic infrastructure they languished without for over six decades after independence.
From the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, that eliminated the curse of open-defecation, to the Jal Jeevan Mission that took tap water connection to every household, to the Ujjwala Yojana that ushered healthier kitchens for the households, to MUDRA programme, ensuring collateral-free loans for aspiring entrepreneurs, the last decade has been all about unshackling the economic potential of India’s villages.
Alongside, the SVAMITVA Yojana, or Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas, was launched in the early weeks of the pandemic, on April 2020. The objective of this programme is quite straightforward-to provide an integrated property validation solution for the rural villages of the country. Put simply, the idea was to digitise the land records in India’s villages.
By digitising these land records, the government, aided by several state-level departments and institutions, wants to ensure that the rural households have their respective rights to property, the disputes pertaining to property are either minimised or addressed altogether. Further, the Gram Panchayats will also be empowered to collect the rightful property tax from these households.
Thus, the Gram Panchayats will have more monetary resources to allocate to local development work. The self-reliance of the Gram Panchayats will also improve once they are in a position to increase their tax base. The ownership clarity for both, the rural households and the Gram Panchayat, will usher an unprecedented economic shift in the financial planning.
The SVAMITVA programme has several second order effects as well. The SVAMITVA scheme’s drone requirements have significantly stimulated the drone manufacturing industry in India. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have responded by developing Survey Grade Drones, leading to supply orders being directed towards companies under the “Make in India” initiative.
The Survey of India (SoI), as the technological partner for the scheme’s implementation, has been diligently working to meet the scheme’s objectives. Put simply, the SVAMITVA programme has accelerated the manufacturing of drones in India, along with creating a demand for skilled manpower.
Finally, an unintended consequence of the SVAMITVA programme is going to be the ability of willing households to use these lands to avail formal financing options. For instance, a household can mortgage a part of their land for their financing needs, or can now invest, from a long-term perspective in their tract of land. They can choose to build a warehouse, or explore options in vertical farming, for instance.
The SVAMITVA programme, in the long run, will enable households to invest in unconventional business options as well. Some could build a homestay, assuming they are in a region which hosts a lot many travellers. Some may choose to lease out their land for organic farming to urban dwellers. In the larger scheme of things, the programme opens up more economic options for the households when it comes to land utility.
The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, as outlined in Article 244, includes special administrative provisions for designated tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. The SVAMITVA programme proves to be a gamechanger here as well.
The inability to transfer land holding rights makes land unsuitable as collateral, which has long been identified as a barrier to providing institutional credit in the hilly regions’ economies.
In these states, SVAMITVA can give the local governments more clarity on the tracts of land that are not currently held by any community, are registered against a household, are transferable, are under any dispute, and will also enable the state governments to further customise their local laws to ensure better utility of land. In the Northeast, SVAMITVA will unlock the potential of landholdings, even in the remotest corners, in the long run.
India’s capital expenditure and long-term asset creation have gone from Rs 2.5 Lakh Crore, annually, to more than Rs. 11.11 Lakh Crore this year. However, this has more to do with urban areas or greenfield projects across the country. In villages, beyond the infrastructural development, a programme like SVAMITVA was essential to further unlock the potential of landholdings amongst rural households.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed over 65 Lakh SVAMITVA property cards at an event, mapped across twelve states and union territories, and stated how economic value worth over Rs. 100 Lakh Crore would be unlocked in the long run. The process that began in April 2020, eventually, will prove to be a gamechanger for India’s economy in the ongoing decade.
(Tushar Gupta is a senior journalist and political analyst)
