Svamitva scheme: Giving property ownership rights to India's villagers

The first of a two-part series looks at how the Centre's Svamitva scheme is empowering India's villagers

Sumit Singh, 30, a first-time sarpanch of Ahmadalpur village in Jhajjar district of Haryana, has dealt with many prickly issues since he came to the post six months ago. One that he remembers in particular is when two tenants claimed rights over a property although it really belonged to an old infirm person who did not stay in the village. When he came to know that other people were staking claim to his ancestral property, he came to the village and was able to get his name entered as the real owner under the government’s new property card called Svamitva. 

“The satisfaction that I saw on his face that day is something I will cherish for life,” Singh says as his fellow villagers nod in agreement.

The Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (Svamitva), a scheme launched by the ministry of panchayati raj, is giving record of ownership rights to villagers who have been staying in their residences for years without legal proof. Its for rural residential assets.

Ownership rights make them eligible for bank loans and the benefits of state and central government schemes. Above all, it gives these villagers a sense of security and enables the central and state governments to maintain a record of residential assests owned by citizens.

In Haryana, residential property in which ownership is passed on through generations and not on the basis of clear onwership, is called ‘Lal Dora’ land.

“In one case, after we conducted the survey of a house where the brothers claimed to be the real owner, the father came to us after a few months. 

He wanted his name to be included in the registration slip as he feared that once everything became legal, his sons would throw him out of the house,” says Deepak Kumar, panchayat secretary of six villages that includes Ahmadalpur. After getting consent, the father’s name was also included in the Svamitva property card. 
 

The process

The process of getting a Svamitva card starts by the Survey of India carrying out a drone survey of the area. Then a draft map of the village is sent to the panchayats. However, more often than not, this survey is riddled with imperfections.

“In one case, the drone captured three dwellings numbered 256, 257 and 258. But, when we did a physical verification we found that all three belonged to the same owner. Hence, the map needs to be reworked so that multiple IDs for a single owner are not generated,” Kumar says.

The reverse also happens, he adds. For instance, though three brothers may be staying in the same house, the drone captures them as a single unit. 

The physical verification of the property details through door-to-door surveys is done by a team composed of the village secretary, sarpanch, other members of the panchayat, the district revenue officer and some senior and known members of the village.

Once the physical verification is complete and the owner or owners give their consent or suggest changes, corrections are done to the draft map, and a final map is released which has the property ID and numbering of each dwelling with the name, Aadhaar card, family ID card (only in the case of Haryana) and other details of the owner or owners. 

The final list is then displayed in the panchayat office for verification by the owners.  If there are no objections, the details are sent for the issuing of Svamitva cards. The cards have unique nine digit IDs and a map of the property attached with them. Once the cards are generated, the process for the registration of title deeds begins. 

If there is a dispute in ownership, an effort is made to solve it at the block level through a committee or the Gram Sabhas. But in case the dispute persists, the IDSs are marked as disputed and unresolvable and left as they are. 

“Usually, in a village of say around 100 houses, only 3-4 disputes are unresolvable as in this part of the country illegal occupation is relatively rare,” says Praveen Dutt, another village secretary.

Problem with disputes

One problem which is unique to the villages of Jhajjar and even in other parts of the country is old abandoned houses whose owners have moved away years earlier. 

“These are mostly houses which were occupied by the big landlords but over the years the sons and daughters settled outside the village and never came back to claim the property” Dutt says.

Namita Wahi, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and an expert on land and related issues, says that the Svamitva scheme should address the following points.  

“First, the property IDs should be mandatorily in the name of the women owner which will be a big move towards women’s empowerment. Second, there should be enabling legislation that would give a legal backing to the IDs in the absence of which financial institutions might not extend benefits. Third, the purpose of these IDs should be clearly spelt out,” Wahi says.

Partha Mukhopadhyay, another senior fellow at CPR says that in principle the scheme is beneficial, but everything will depend on how the programme is implemented. 

Likely future use

Once property ownerships are registered with clear titles, it could give the government the option to levy property tax and also charge owners for facilities such as street lights and water connections. However, government officials deny any such plan and insist that the Svamitva property cards are only meant to record ownership of hitherto unregistered dwellings in rural areas.

PROGRESS REPORT

• The Survey of India has signed MoUs for the implementation of the Svamitva scheme with 31 states and union territories
• Drone survey has been completed in 248,000 villages across India
• 12.9 million property cards have been prepared for 78,000 villages
• Scheme has been saturated in Haryana, Uttarakhand, Puducherry, Goa, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands