Land Records Computerization - Gujarat Informatics

1 1 - An eeee----GovernanceGovernanceGovernanceGo vernance Bulletin from Gujarat Informatics LTD. Introduction Drive in Gujarat Focus and Objectives The Process Role of NIC & GSWAN Operational-isation Status Earth is precious. Whatever befalls the Earth - befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. This we know - the Earth does not belong to man - man belongs to the Earth. This we know, all things are connected like the blood, which unites one family (rewritten by Ted Perry) This was the reply of Chief Seattle to The Great White Chief fromWashington, in response to the offer made by the latter for a largearea of Indian land accompanied with a promise of reservation for the Indian people. The quote described above is regarded asthe most beautiful and profound statement on the EARTH & itsEnvironment ever made.

2 land and its people define basicframework of any civilization. The resources, their ownership andaccessibility of land are some of the fundamental constituents ofany system which is meant to govern multilateral aspects likesocio-economic; cultural and political aspects of human after India achieved Independence, efforts were made toliberate landowners from the clutches of colonial system bybringing in paradigm shift from tax-based approach to landresources management. In India land ownership lies in the nameof individuals and not the State. After Independence duesignificance has been accorded to statistics related to crop,irrigation and land use for them to form a basis for landdevelopment in the country. Hon. CM inaugurating Chota-Udepur taluka Operationalisation Vol.

3 1 l No. 4 March 2003 land Records Computerization Editorial Team Neeta Shah Satish Iyengar Sumit Ghosh Information Courtesy Shri , Principal Secretary, Revenue Dept. Shri Sharad Rawal CIO, Revenue Dept. 2 - An eeee----GovernanceGovernanceGovernanceGo vernance Bulletin from Gujarat Informatics LTD. In present day land recordsystems, a number ofrecords are beingmaintained at the village,tehsil and district levels as instatement of land holdings, land revenue, rentalcropped areas and landuse pattern. There aremore than 20 registers thatare being maintained byRevenue Department. Thenumber of registers variesfrom State to State Records beingmaintained are (1) Village map: A pictorialform showing the villageand field boundaries; (2) Field book or khasra which is an index to themap, in which changes inthe field boundaries, theirarea, particulars of tenure-holders, methods ofIrrigation, cropped area,other uses of land etc.

4 Arerecorded. In 1985 it was resolved inConference of Revenue Ministersto computerize land Records onpilot basis. The Ministry of RuralDevelopment (MRD), Governmentof India, took the initiative toidentify the deficiencies in thepresent systems of revenueadministration and land provides funds to States forutilizing IT as a remedial tool tobuild land Information 100% Centrally SponsoredScheme on Computerisation ofLand Records (CLR) was started in1988-89 with the intention toremove the problems inherent inthe manual system ofmaintenance and updating ofLand Records to meet therequirements of various group ofusers. It began as a pilot project ineight Districts/ States ,Rangareddy ( ), Sonitpur(Assam), Singhbhum (Bihar),Gandhinagar ( Gujarat ), Morena( ), Wardha (Maharashtra),Mayurbhanj (Orissa), andDungarpur (Rajasthan).

5 It was decided that effortsshould be made tocomputerize core datacontained in land Records , soas to assist developmentplanning and to makerecords accessible topeople/ planners /administrators. Further, thescheme was extended toother districts as well. Computerisation of landrecords started in Gujarat inthe year 1989 when a pilotproject was taken up toexperiment computerisationof Gandhinagar district landrecords. This pilot project wasfinancially assisted by GOI. Due to this pilot project adetail study report could beprepared on aspects likeknowledge level of landrecords in revenueadministration, role of talati,recurring expenditure,phasing of incorporating ofcomputerisation, role of 3 - An eeee----GovernanceGovernanceGovernanceGo vernance Bulletin from Gujarat Informatics LTD.

6 ! State Monitoring Cellhas been formed for day-to-day guidance,association of NIC,software development andtesting, training. This cell isworking in RevenueDepartment. ! District Implementation Committeeformed at district levelunder the Chairmanship ofthe Collector, a DistrictImplementation. DistrictHeads of concerneddepartments, MLAs,Dist/Taluka Panchayatmembers participate in thisthis committee. ! District Implementation Committeeis formed in every District Collector chairsthis committee. DistrictHeads of concerneddepartments and politicalexecutives of the Districtrepresenting Parliament,State assembly, DistrictPanchayat, TalukaPanchayat and socialactivists with specificrevenue administration,computerisation methodology, interest levelof administration forcomputerisation, conditionof land record , maintenancefor updated land Records ,financial implications etc.

7 Inclusion in 9th Five Year Plan Government of India startedreleasing funds for theproject from 1995-96. Onguidelines of Action OrientedCommittee of State, thisproject was included as aregular scheme in 9th FiveYear Plan and a target ofcompletion of 70 taluka swas decided. Softwaredesigned in-house in pilotwork was handed over toNIC, after which NIC startedenhancement in software forState-wide project. Man-Power The man-power distributionplan in the state for theproject is as follows: The District Unit comprises of1 Dy Mamlatdar, 1 CircleOfficer, 1 Clerk and 1 Peon for primary data entry and day today activity of the project, as aspecial case. One Taluka in each district areidentified for these selected 25 talukas, 25 Taluka unitstaff comprises of 1 DyMamlatdar, 1 Data Entry Operatorand 1 Peon. The Secretariat Cell comprises 1Dy Secretary, 1 Under Secretary, 1 Section Officer, 2 Assistants and 1 Peon for monitoring the project atState level and to upkeep theadministrative aspects of theproject.

8 PROJECT MONITORING Separate cells and committeeshave been setup to monitor theprogress of the project. These are:! State Level SteeringCommittee under theChairmanship of PrincipalSecretary has been and HODs of theconcerned departments aremembers of this meets for policy leveldecisions 2-3 times a year, forother important aspects of theprojects and to review theprogress of the project. 4 - An eeee----GovernanceGovernanceGovernanceGo vernance Bulletin from Gujarat Informatics LTD. interest are offeredmembership of thisCommittee. This Comitteeadvises, drives, supervisesand monitors activities of thisproject in the district. ! Nodal Officer OneDeputy Collector has beenidentified in each district whotakes up planning,implementation, monitoringof the district level working ofthis project.

9 He reviewsDistrict Unit s work. ! The Computerisation ofLand Records (CLR) couldsafely claim to be the firstinitiative of E- Governance inIndia, at the Grass-root focus of the entireoperation has always been toemploy state of art informationtechnology (IT) to galvanizeand transform the existing landrecord system of the country. ! Ensuring efficient,accurate, transparent deliverymechanism and conflictresolution in ownership. ! Providing electronicrecord of rights (ROR) to landowners at nominal rates. ! Information empowerment oflandowners. ! Low cost and easilyreproducible data forreliable and durablepreservation. ! Value addition andmodernization in landadministration. Integration with other Data sets towards Comprehensive LIS. 5 - An eeee----GovernanceGovernanceGovernanceGo vernance Bulletin from Gujarat Informatics LTD.

10 With the mismatch lists derivedfrom the computer are suppliedto the village Talati. He checks theprint and does point out the errorsin data entry, when it is necessaryto correct to village record . Thenrandom checking is done byDeputy Mamlatdar andMamlatdar (Tehsildar) andcorrected copies with compliedmismatch lists are sent to districtcomputer room where correctionare carried out in the computer. The State Monitoring Cell, LRC,Gandhinagar carry out testchecks on random basis. Minuteverifications are done and errorspointed out are solved on thespot for the problem faced at thedistrict level. To curtail the errors indata entry and validation workand to avoid the same repetitivemistakes, SMC has issued detailedguidelines. Thus, verification andcorrection are carried out until thedata is error-free.