Land records to go digital, key reform

The Centre is working on digitisation of land records as one of the priority reforms for the incoming administration. The government may allocate ₹1,035 crore for the proposed plan that seeks to complete the digitisation of all land records by the end of 2026, helping streamline the land acquisition process and speed up projects, ET has learnt.

The move may be announced when the full budget is presented. “Land reforms are one of the top agenda items for the government and if it comes back to power, these will be aggressively pushed starting with the digitization of land records,” a senior official said. The proposed plan is also a part of the next government’s 100-day economic agenda that was discussed last week.

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It includes rejigging land-use policies for urban, forest and agricultural land, which will speed up the key infrastructure projects which are often stuck or delayed due to land acquisition and litigation. The meeting, chaired by the cabinet secretary last week to take stock of the 100-day agenda, also discussed how other flagship reforms were stuck due to lack of digital land records, for instance land-monetization, agricultural reforms. “The target is to complete the digitization of land records by the end of 2026 and as per the initial estimate, ₹1,035 crore be dedicated for the plan and an announcement may be made when the full budget is presented,” the official added. There is already a Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) going on, which gives unique identity toland parcels. This is a 14 digit unique ID for each land parcel based on Geo-coordinates in sync with international standards. The centre will add ownership, usage, and risk also to the database.

“This reform will have a multiplier effect, once the land record is digitized, it will also reduce land disputes, will give exact ownership and usage patterns with exact data,” the official said, adding that this will substantially reduce the project completion timing by at least 30-35%.

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