SWAMITVA Scheme

On April 24, 2020, marking the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day SWAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme was launched for defining the ownership of residential and land properties in rural areas using drones. This scheme ensures right entitlement of the properties. It aims at maintaining proper land records with core transparency. It leads to reduced property disputes and thereby reduce exploitation of the poor over land issues. This scheme aims at the development of rural India at a faster pace. On April 24, 2021, PM Narendra Modi virtually launched the distribution of e-property cards to the land property owners under the SWAMITVA  scheme.

Scheme Overview:

Scheme Objectives & Benefits:

• The scheme aims to claim ownership and maintain records of all the residential property owned by villagers
• Use of technology through mapping and surveying in villages will lead to technological development in rural areas
• It aims to reducing disputes in villages over property issues
• Exploitation of the poor over land matters will be reduced
• Such digital record of land owned by villagers will also help in determining Property tax
• About 4.09 lakh property owners are provided with e-property cards
• It aims at rural development at a faster pace

Key Points:

• SWAMITVA scheme is a central government scheme launched on April 24, 2020 for the land matters in rural areas
• Ministry of Panchayati raj is the nodal ministry for implementation of this scheme
• This scheme tends to ensure ownership of the land to its original owner thereby avoiding illegal capture of property by any third person.
• It aims to protect the poor from exploitation or corruption over land matters
• Google mapping and surveying tools are used for capturing the exact land details through Drones
• With the implementation of this scheme the land owner gets the legal rights of his property even if he doesn’t have the papers/ documents to claim his property
• Due to this scheme land owners will be able to use their land as their assets and the same can be used for taking loans from banks with minimum documents
• On April 24, 2021 PM Narendra Modi launched distribution of e-property cards under this scheme, wherein all the residential land owners will be given their own e- property cards, which will denote their ownership of the land
• About 4.09 lakh property owners in more than five thousand villages are given e-property cards marking the implementation of the scheme
• Property cards ensure entitlement of ownership and this will bring confidence among the rural people thereby reducing land disputes
• Property cards can be used for availing benefits from financial institutions as loans as well as will assist in property tax calculations
• Currently, on pilot basis 6 states are included in this scheme
• The states covered are Maharashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand
• It aims to include all the 6.62 lakh villages in India by 2025
• Currently Madhya Pradesh is the leading state in implementing and preparing the land rights records under the SWAMITVA scheme