Property cards under SVAMITVA will advance economic activity worth over ₹ 100 lakh crore, says PM Modi

Terming the property cards distributed under the Centre’s SVAMITVA (Survey of villages and mapping with improvised technology in village areas) scheme a “guarantee of economic security”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Jan 18 said these documents, once issued in all the villages of the country, will unlock economic activity worth over ₹ 100 lakh crore.

Modi was addressing an event to distribute over 65 lakh property cards to property owners in over 50,000 villages across 230 districts through video conferencing.

Calling it a “historic day for the villages and the rural areas of India”, he said nearly half of the country’s more than 6 lakh villages had been surveyed by drones under the property survey programme, which was launched in 2020.

He said 2.25 crore people in villages have so far received legal documents for their houses under the scheme.

“After getting legal documents, lakhs of people have taken loans from banks on the basis of their houses and property. With this money, they have started their small business in the village. Many of these are small and medium farmer families. For them, these property cards have become a big guarantee of economic security,” Modi said.

“Our Dalit, backward and tribal families were the most troubled and affected by illegal occupation and long disputes in the court. Now, with the availability of legal proof, they are getting relief from this crisis. It is estimated that after property cards are made in all the villages, the way will open for economic activity of more than Rs 100 lakh crore. You can imagine how much capital is going to be added to the country’s economy,” he added.

The beneficiaries who received property cards on Jan 18 belonged to 10 states and 2 Union Territories — Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. During the event, Modi also interacted with five SVAMITVA beneficiaries.

In his speech, Modi cited a UN study emphasising that reducing poverty requires people to have property rights. Citing a book by a renowned economist on the challenge of property rights, he said that the small amount of property owned by villagers is often “dead capital”.

“This means that the property cannot be used for transactions, and it does not help increase the family’s income,” the PM said.

Underlining that India was not immune to the global challenge of property rights, the PM said that despite having property “worth millions of crores”, villagers in India often lacked legal documents, leading to disputes and even illegal occupation by powerful individuals.”

“The banks (too) kept their distance from such properties,” Modi said.

Attacking the previous governments, Modi said they “did not take concrete steps to address this issue”.

Calling SVAMITVA and Bhu-Aadhaar, a unique land parcel identification number (ULPIN) for each land, as foundational systems for village development, Modi said 23 crore Bhu-Aadhaar numbers have been issued so far.

“Over the past 7-8 years, approximately 98% of land records have been digitized, and most land maps are now digitally available,” he said.

According to an official statement, “Drone survey has been completed in over 3.17 lakh villages, which covers 92% of the targeted villages.”

“The scheme has reached full saturation in Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Tripura, Goa, Uttarakhand and Haryana. Drone survey has been completed in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh and several UTs,” the statement said.