Innovative Technology Boosts Survey and Mapping Efficiency, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Reports

The Central Sector Scheme “SVAMITVA” aims to provide the ‘Record of Rights’ to household owners possessing houses in inhabited areas (Abadi) in villages with issuance of legal ownership rights (Property cards/Title deeds). Under the scheme, the land parcels in rural inhabited area of all the villages of the country are surveyed using drone technology. It is being implemented with the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Revenue Department, State PanchayatiRaj Department and Survey of India (SoI). States need to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SoI for implementation of the scheme.

So far, 31 States/UTs have signed MoU with SoI for implementation of SVAMITVA Scheme, which are given:

State-wise status of MoU between State and Survey of India under the SVAMITVA scheme

Sl. No State/UT Date of Signing MoU
1 Karnataka Already had MoU with SoI
2 MadhyaPradesh Already had MoU with SoI
3 Maharashtra Already had MoU with SoI
4 Haryana 08-May-19
5 Uttarakhand 03-Jun-20
6 UttarPradesh 08-Jun-20
7 Punjab 02-Jul-20
8 Rajasthan 15-Jul-20
9 Andaman & Nicobar 27-Jul-20
10 AndhraPradesh 08-Dec-20
11 Chhattisgarh 23-Dec-20
12 Odisha 05-Feb-21
13 Lakshadweep 12-Apr-21
14 Kerala 20-Apr-21
15 Tripura 26-Apr-21
16 ArunachalPradesh 11-May-21
17 Gujarat 21-May-21
18 Ladakh 25-May-21
19 HimachalPradesh 27-May-21
20 Daman &Diu and Dadra&NagarHaveli 31-May-21
21 Assam 21-Jun-21
22 Jammu& Kashmir 17-Jun-21
23 Manipur 21-Jun-21
24 Mizoram 08-Jul-21
25 Jharkhand 14-Jul-21
26 Puducherry 22-Jul-21
27 Sikkim 23-Aug-21
28 Goa 26-Aug-21
29 Tamil Nadu 02-Nov-21
30 Telangana 19-Apr-22
31 Delhi 26-Apr-22

Out of a total 3.44 lakh notified villages to be covered in these States/UTs, drone survey has been completed in 3.12 lakh villages and 2.03 crores property cards have been prepared in 1.30 lakh villages. The State-wise status is given below:

State-wise status progress under the SVAMITVA scheme

(As on 19th July 2024)

S.No. States/UTs Notified Villages for survey Drone Flying completed villages Property Cards prepared (villages) Number of Property Cards prepared
1 A&N Islands 186 186 141 7,409
2 AndhraPradesh 13,364 13,280 1,128 5,52,848
3 ArunachalPradesh 5,484 2,367 0 0
4 Assam 1,074 946 0 0
5 Chhattisgarh 15,791 15,791 1,384 1,84,515
6 Dadra&NagarHaveli and Daman &Diu 80 80 75 4,397
7 Delhi 31 31 0 0
8 Goa 410 410 410 6,72,646
9 Gujarat 13,132 13,014 3,396 7,96,255
10 Haryana 6,260 6,260 6,260 25,15,646
11 HimachalPradesh 15,196 13,621 124 2,737
12 Jammu and Kashmir 4,590 4,143 616 18,444
13 Jharkhand 757 240 0 0
14 Karnataka 30,715 13,897 3,277 9,37,829
15 Kerala 1,415 594 0 0
16 Ladakh 232 232 111 7,575
17 Lakshadweep Islands 10 10 0 0
18 MadhyaPradesh 43,014 43,014 26,402 33,87,137
19 Maharashtra 37,819 37,209 12,813 19,78,332
20 Manipur 3,856 209 0 0
21 Mizoram 550 271 9 1,155
22 Odisha 3,054 2,709 43 1,500
23 Puducherry 96 96 92 2,801
24 Punjab 11,718 9,929 100 16,164
25 Rajasthan 36,310 35,652 6,695 4,53,392
26 Sikkim 1 1 0 0
27 Tamil Nadu 3 3 0 0
28 Telangana 5 5 0 0
29 Tripura 898 14 0 0
30 UttarPradesh 90,908 90,908 60,081 85,17,595
31 Uttarakhand 7,441 7,441 7,441 2,78,229
  Total 3,44,400 3,12,563 1,30,598 2,03,36,606

Survey of rural land in India for settlement and record of rights has been done from time to time.  However, Abadi (inhabited) areas of villages were never surveyed in many States. In the absence of accurate land records and clear ownership, State Revenue Department lacked land records of rural Abadi. Rural property owners lacked means to utilize their residential assets for availing bank loans and rural land was prone to property related disputes.

During the implementation of SVAMITVA Scheme, few challenges related to technology adoption and awareness generation were observed. Several States did not have online system for updating and recording Abadi land ownership.  Revenue staff was not trained for using online applications for updating maps.  Citizens were not aware of the benefits of SVAMITVA Scheme. However, the challenges were addressed actively through:

  1. Gram Sabha is to be conducted for creating awareness at the Panchayat level. Thereafter, land survey is undertaken using survey grade drones.
  2. For creation of records, a participatory approach was adopted for property demarcation and ground verification.
  3. Most State revenue departments have devised online systems for the implementation of the scheme, viz., ground verification of maps, notification of claims and preparation of property cards.
  4. Upon finalization of property details, property cards are created and provided to property owners directly through Digilocker application. MadhyaPradesh has also created online portal for storage and updating records wherein Banks are also able to login to create charge on property.
  5. In some States, individual notices are issued to property owners before finalization of Property Card
  6. SMSs were sent to MPs and MLAs for to notify the start of Svamitva implementation in their respective constituencies.
  7. Training is regularly provided to the State Revenue Department officials

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