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A new era in land mapping has its positive implications. A look at the possible transformation in technology by K. SUKUMARAN
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Though some time ago it was stated that the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) did use the scanning facility of ISRO satellite to draw up the Comprehensive Development Plan-2015, not many would have gone into the unlimited scope for such technology in updating our land records even in remote villages. One of the 10 satellites put into orbit recently by ISRO is Cartosat 2A, which is intended to beam pictures of our hinterland. This has given new o
pportunities for maintenance of land records.
What is this Cartosat, how does it help in keeping land records and what business opportunities can it generate? These questions lead us to some fundamental issues relating to this subject.
Land records in India
The village is our basic survey unit for many purposes. Land records too are primarily kept by village accountants. A map of the village is the basic document and identification of land is made through survey numbers given to each piece of land owned by a family or individual. Apart from land, roads, lakes, water fronts and forests are marked in the village map. Over a period of time, the area of such land and other objects shrink due to soil erosion, floods and human encroachments.
Surveys and re-surveys have taken place over many years and together with sale and partition of family property, the survey numbers have also undergone changes over the years.
What has been done to maintain land records in the modern era? To be honest, very little has been done. The onus of facts on the owners and document writers. Many sale transactions are registered in sub-registrars’ offices without any verification, a sad commentary on our landed property supervision system.
Yet, there have been isolated efforts by some States to computerise land records. The ‘Bhoomi’ Project of Karnataka can be cited as a very good example. One can get a khatha extract from the centralised land record offices covering identified BBMP areas at a reasonable fee, in a matter of 15-20 minutes.
Digitalisation of land records
The Cartosat 2 A, which is an indigenously developed remote sensing satellite, is now beaming high resolution pictures of our hinterland, as is programmed. The effort is to combine satellite pictures of land holdings with field surveys for creating a unified register of property titles. Land being the single most valuable physical asset in India, proper records relating to it can increase its collateral value, based on which its uses like levying tax, assessment of eligible bank credit etc, can also be properly applied. The torn/faded maps with the village accountant can be replaced by satellite imagery techniques and the village maps can be reconstituted accordingly.
The abysmal position relating to the land records/maps in Indian villages was noted in a World Bank study of 2007 and Mckinsey & Co, in their comments on the Indian economy, said that above one per cent of the growth is lost in computation due to the poor and distorted land market in the country.
The final analysis
There is very little certainty in regard to land titles due to the weaknesses in the record/mapping system.
Verification of title to land and property offered as security to bank loans is done on the basis of a plethora of documents such as original title deed, khatha, record of rights and index of land, ‘pazhani’ in the case of cultivable land, tax (kandayam) paid receipts, ‘genealogical family tree’ etc. finally for a ‘presumptive’ title!
To top it all, no advocate/ lawyer will give a categorical certificate of title, except in very rare cases. Further, because of the confusion in land maps and proper categorisation of land into arid, semi arid or irrigated, the correct pricing is also denied to the seller/mortgager.
All this will be a thing of the past, when the digital depository of all land records is created with the help of the satellite. The visual representation of one’s landed property will also provide sufficient information to those second and third generation descendants of joint families to claim their land or sell it at market rates relating to each type of land/property, pushing up the property market in India to competitive commercial levels to the benefit of all instead of a few smart operators as of now. The land sharks and those who corner village land under the guise of ‘presumptive’ title will no longer be able to take the rural folk for a ride.
What a transformation it would be!... and real estate business will boom scientifically.
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