The Survey of India and the Tamil Nadu government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier this month to undertake a pilot project in two villages under the SVAMITVA scheme to study whether a drone survey would help the State further strengthen the land records database of ‘natham’ areas.
The Survey of Villages Abadi & Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) scheme, promoted by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, is aimed at establishing clear ownership of property in rural inhabited areas (called ‘grama natham’) by mapping of land parcels using drones and to provide ‘Record of Rights’ to village household owners.
“Tamil Nadu has quite a strong database of land records. Since the Union government has launched SVAMITVA, the State has given permission to undertake a pilot project to see whether the scheme would help to strengthen the ‘natham’ land records database by geo-referencing the land records,” a senior official told The Hindu.
However, the scheme would require additional human resource since the drone survey would have to be complemented with ground proofing. Though the State has given permission only for a pilot study, the framework for the implementation says the survey would cover 18,463 Tamil Nadu villages by 2023-24.
