PM to launch scheme to distribute property cards to home owners

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the scheme to distribute cards with details of home properties held by villagers under the SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages And Mapping With Improvised Technology In Village Areas) programme on Sunday, in a move that the government hopes will reduce  property disputes and provide its holders an additional avenue for finance.

Modi will inaugurate the distribution process at 11 am on Sunday in a virtual event in which  Union minister for panchayati raj Narendra Singh Tomar will also participate. Modi will interact with some villagers who will get the cards, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

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It said the cards will be distributed in 763 villages — 346 in  Uttar Pradesh, 221 in Haryana, 100 in Maharashtra, 44 in  Madhya Pradesh, 50 in Uttarakhand and two in Karnataka. About 1,32,000 villagers will be given the cards during the launch programme. Many villagers will be able to download the card through a link sent to their mobile phones.

The details provided in the cards are based on the mapping done with the help of drones, officials said.  

The government expects the programme to help streamline property records, especially in rural areas.  

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The Prime Minister had initiated the SVAMITVA programme in April. It will cover over 6.6 lakh villages in four years. It intends to help villagers carry copies of property titles of their homes and surrounding areas in cards. The card will provide details of only their residence and not other properties like cultivated land. It can be used by the holder for greater access to finance in the form of loans.

Government officials said while there is proper record of cultivated land in many places, details of inhabited areas are not maintained that well. This has resulted in many ownership disputes, that has resulted in a huge pile of cases in civil courts. The SVAMITVA programme hopes to remedy this problem.