Modernization of land administration and its socio-economic impact

  • GeoSmart India
  • Jul 14, 2023
Modernization of land administration and its socio-economic impact

India is the most populous nation in the world but, seventh largest nation in terms of area. This indicates the strain on the nation’s resources, with particular emphasis on the pivotal role of land in relation to other available resources. Land serves as the foundational infrastructure that meets the fundamental living requirements of human beings. Therefore, the land administration remains critical to monitor the distribution of land, ensure land security and land rights along with sustainable utilization of land.

For the justified distribution of land and to address the pressing matters such as that of inequality, poverty, and social justice, India has witnessed land reforms since the independence. Land reforms aims for the regulation of ownership, operation, leasing sale and inheritance of land. The Zamindari abolition, Tenancy Reforms, Ceilings on Land Holdings, forest land reforms have been an attempt to address such matters of grave concern. It is argued that even though the land reforms have achieved their objective to considerable degree, the pace of reforms have been substantially slow.

As per NITI Aayog and other industry sectors, it has been contended that land leasing should be adopted at a large scale so that it can act as an enabler in economy for income generation, specifically, for rural population. This is possible through the exercise of consolidation of land holdings and modern land reforms measures such as land digitisation through the adoption of geospatial and frontier technology.

The nation’s land administration practices have undergone a significant transformation due to the government’s geospatial technology-driven policies and centralized schemes. The central level schemes for enhancing the workflow of land administration and land management such as Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP), and SVAMITVA scheme ensures the empowerment of the citizen of the nation by providing the ‘Record of Rights’ to the landowners. The utilization of geospatial technology, such as Geographic Information System (GIS), high-resolution satellite imagery, Global Positioning System (GPS), drone surveying technology, and Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS), is revolutionizing traditional land administration methods. This involves the digitization of cadastral maps and the integration of advanced technologies to enhance accuracy and efficiency.

To accentuate how the integration and adoption of geospatial and frontier technology and geospatial and digital technology enabling policy is changing the picture of land and property sector in India and transforming the lives of rural and urban populations, a one-day program on ‘Modernization of land administration and it’s socio-economic impact’ will be organized in GeoSmart India 2023 from 17th -19th October 2023. The program will bring together the different stakeholders of land who are involved in the overall process of land administration, right from, land tenure, land value, land use to land development to discuss the impact, opportunities and challenges associated with the modernization of land administration in the nation.

With the theme, “Geospatial Infrastructure and Digital Twin: Powering National Economy”, GeoSmart India 2023 is set to assemble the geospatial community and significant stakeholders to discuss how geospatial infrastructure and digital twin is enabling the change in the national economy and creating an impact for the greater good of the society, thereby, making the national economy and society sustainable and resilient.