In most Indian states, populated village areas are not properly measured and surveyed for verification or attestation causes. No wonder why people living there do not have papers declaring ownership of land.

Subsequently, to provide ownership rights to people living in village areas of India, the Government has come up with SVAMITVA Yojana. Want to know about the SVAMITVA Yojana and how it works? Read along!

Launched on 24th April 2020, SVAMITVA (Survey of villages and mapping with improvised technology in village areas) Yojana is a Central Sector scheme that aims to survey rural inhabited (Abadi) areas using modern technology. The scheme aims to cover six and a half lakh villages in India. With a projected outlay of ₹79.65 crores for the pilot phase (2020-21), this scheme will continue for a period of 4 years (2021-2025) in a phase-wise manner.

SVAMITVA scheme, a new initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, will use the latest surveying technology, i.e. drone technology, to complete surveying land parcels in rural areas. In the nascent stage, this scheme covered six states on a trial basis. These include Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh.

Moreover, on 11th October 2020, the Prime Minister of India started the distribution of property cards through video conferencing under the SVAMITVA scheme. Villagers who have collected this card can now take a loan from banks and financial institutions by submitting this card.

Now the meaning of PM SVAMITVA yojana is clear to individuals, let's focus on the objective and working of this scheme.

Following are the objectives of the SVAMITVA scheme.

• Ensure financial stability to villagers by letting them use their property to take loans to form banks and financial institutions.
• Create precise land records for rural planning.
• Lessen property-related disputes.
• Help create survey structure and GIS maps that will allow other departments to use these documents as per their requirement.
• Determine property tax.

The PM SVAMITVA scheme will utilise drones to measure and map residential village property. State Governments will prepare property cards for each property in villages after accurate mapping by drones. Next, villagers will receive this property card which will be registered in the land revenue records department.

With a comprehensive idea of the SVAMITVA scheme, its objective and its operation, we can move to the sections of beneficiary, features, features and expected outcome of this scheme.

Villagers living in a populated area on or after 25th September 2018 will be considered beneficiaries of SVAMITVA Yojana.

PM Modi SVAMITVA Yojana works in a phase-wise manner. These are -

• Phase I- Phase I is the Pilot phase will continue from April 2020 to March 2021. This phase covers 1 lakh villages of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh. In this phase, the concerned authority will establish of CROS (Continuously Operating Reference Stations) network in two States, namely Rajasthan and Punjab.
• Phase II- This phase will continue from April 2021 to March 2025 and cover around 6.62 lakh villages. Additionally, there is a plan to establish a CROS network with 567 CORS stations.

• This scheme provides ownership rights over their properties.
• Under this scheme, eligible property owners will get property cards that they can use to avail loans.
• SVAMITVA Yojana ensures robust development of rural areas through mapping and demarcation of village properties. This scheme will help the government to plan infrastructure programs in rural areas.
• Due to drone technology and satellite mapping usage, the chances of errors in drawing property boundaries also come down.

After the stipulated time of SVAMITVA Yojana is over, ‘records of rights’ will be updated in revenue or property registers, and eligible rural owners will receive property cards. Thus, they can leverage their property in time of need. Further, this scheme will ease property tax determining tasks, which authorities will use to ensure improved civic amenities.

SVAMITVA Yojana leads India one step ahead in fulfilling the Prime Minister’s dream of digitising the nation. Through this scheme, rural people can finally get rightful ownership and utilise their property as per their requirements.