The Hindu : World Bank team studying `Bhoomi'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 03, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

World Bank team studying `Bhoomi'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, FEB. 2. A World Bank team is conducting a field visit in and around Bangalore to study the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) model to bring accountability in the city administration and utility agencies and the Bhoomi project to make information technology relevant to farmers.

Deepa Narayan, World Bank's Senior Advisor in Delhi, told presspersons that the collective experience gained by various teams visiting six countries would be the source material for the conference on poverty reduction to be held in May in Shanghai, China.

"The story of growth in Bangalore is unique because it is being led by private entrepreneurs from the IT industry. The BATF model of civil society being involved in all aspects of city planning can be a model to other cities in other countries," said Ms. Narayan.

What has caught the imagination of the World Bank team is the Bhoomi project, which provides computerised land revenue records up to the taluk level. Small and poor farmers have access to 20 million records on land ownership and extracts can be obtained for a nominal fee. Nearly seven million farmers have benefited and have been "freed from the clutches of village accountants" as a Union Minister, who launched the project for Bangalore rural district, said.

In a presentation made earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Infosys Technologies, Nandan Nilekani, and his associate, Srikanth Nadhamuni, who had launched the not-for-profit initiative, e-Governments Foundation, explained how information technology could go beyond creating jobs. In the first phase, the foundation was helping the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and in the "Nirmala Nagara" programme for other cities in the State.

The focus of the programme would be on creating a computerised Geographical Information System, which could help increase revenue collection. The BMP depended largely on property taxes for its income and this had to be used to improve civic infrastructure, Mr. Nilekani said.

Going by the Census figures, the BMP had the potential to collect property tax from 7.5 lakh assessees but only 5.39 lakh properties were actually taxed. This meant 30 to 40 per cent of properties were not in the revenue records. The BMP had no direct links now with the Stamps and Registration Department from where records could be obtained.

Frannie Leautier, Vice-President of the World Bank Institute, heads the delegation which is now here. The team will conclude its visit on Wednesday. The team includes Ghana's Minister for Communications, Albert Kan-Dapaah. The conference in Shanghai will bring about 600 delegates together around a series of success stories in development and effective approaches to poverty reduction.

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