Dotted Lands

Dotted Lands

News: Recently, the Andhra Pradesh government has initiated a significant step to release 'dotted lands' from the prohibited list. It will resolve ownership disputes and provide opportunity to farmers to access land ownership.

What are Dotted Lands?
 Dotted lands are disputed lands for which there are no clear ownership documents. Normally, one or more individuals as well as the government’s Revenue Department lay claim over the land.
 The Andhra Pradesh government introduced a Bill to grant land titles to farmers cultivating dotted lands for over 12 years. Removal of dots and entries from land registers will provide clear land ownership documents to approximately 97,000 farmers.
 Over 1 lakh applications were received to resolve dotted land disputes. Urban areas faced issues related to illegal sale and construction on dotted lands, leading to tax evasion and revenue loss for the government.

What are Government’s initiatives to Digitize land records?
 SVAMITVA Scheme – The scheme was introduced by Ministry of Panchayati Raj for mapping the land parcels in rural inhabited areas. It uses Drone technology to map the land parcels. It will give ownership titles to poor people and confidence of having their own lands.
 Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) – Dubbed as “the Aadhaar for land', ULPIN is a number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in the hinterlands of rural India, where land records are outdated and often disputed.
 PARIVESH Portal - PARIVESH is a web-based application which has been developed for online submission and monitoring of the proposals submitted by the proponents for seeking Environment, Forest, Wildlife and Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ) Clearances from Central, State and district level authorities.
 National Generic Document Registration System - It is a major shift from the existing manual registration system to online registration of all transactions in sale-purchase and transfer of land.
 BHUMI samvaad – It is a National Workshop on Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme (DILRMP).
Source – The Indian Express, PIB