With the granting of legal ownership rights (Property cards/Title deeds), the Central Sector Scheme “SVAMITVA” intends to offer a “Record of Rights” to village household owners who own houses in populated areas (Abadi) in villages. The plan involves surveying land parcels in rural populated regions of all of the country’s villages. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the Survey of India (SoI), the State Revenue Department, the State Panchayati Raj Department, and the National Informatics Centre are working together to implement it. For the program to be implemented, states must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SoI. So far, 29 states/UTs have signed memorandums of understanding with the SoI.
SVAMITVA Plan in Karnataka
In the state of Karnataka, the plan is being implemented in stages. Drone flights have been conducted in 2270 villages across 18 districts in the state, with property cards distributed in 836 villages. In the Kolar District of Karnataka, the SVAMITVA plan is yet to be implemented.
The subject of land and land records is a state matter. For the execution of the SVAMITVA program and the issuance of Property Cards, states/UTs include appropriate provisions in their respective Land Revenue Acts/Rules/Codes and/or any other administrative document. Beneficiaries are given Bhumi-Svami rights, which are comparable to their agricultural land records, by the state of Madhya Pradesh.
From 2020 to 2025, the entire cost of implementing the Scheme is Rs.566.23 crore. The initiative provides cash to the Survey of India for two components: Large Scale Mapping (LSM) with drones and the installation of Continuous Operating Reference Stations (CORS). States are also given funds on a restricted basis for information, education, and communication (IEC) and the establishment of State Project Monitoring Units (SPMU). National Informatics Centre (NIC) will get funds for the enhancement of the spatial planning application ‘Gram Manchitra’ and central infrastructure. The amount of money that has been released so far is listed in Annexure.
SVAMITVA Scheme was extended across the country from 2021-22 after a successful debut in the pilot states of Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh in Phase 1. Property Cards have been prepared in around 31,000 localities across the country so far. The project is expected to be finished in March 2025. The government has taken steps to implement the scheme, including setting interim targets for States/UTs and the Survey of India, holding regular meetings with States/UTs for monitoring, establishing a four-level monitoring system at the national, state, district, and panchayat levels, and providing assistance to States/UTs.