Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will launch the physical distribution of property cards under the 'SVAMITVA' (ownership) scheme via videoconferencing. This ‘historic’ move will pave the way for villagers to use property as a financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Friday described its launch as "a historic move set to transform rural India". This will also enable around one lakh property holders to download their property cards through an SMS link sent on their mobile phones, and this would be followed by the physical distribution of property cards by the respective state governments.

These beneficiaries are from 763 villages across six states -- 346 from Uttar Pradesh, 221 from Haryana, 100 from Maharashtra, 44 from Madhya Pradesh, 50 from Uttarakhand and two from Karnataka.

The beneficiaries from all these states except Maharashtra will receive the physical copies of their property cards within a day, the PMO statement said.

Maharashtra has a system of recovering a nominal cost of property cards so it will take a month's time.

Also, this is the first time ever that such a large-scale exercise involving the most modern means of technology, is being carried out to benefit millions of rural property owners.

PM Modi will also be interacting with some of the beneficiaries during the event. Union Minister for Panchayati Raj will be present on the occasion. The programme will commence from 11 am.

All about ‘SVAMITVA’ scheme

SVAMITVA, a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, which was launched by PM Modi on National Panchayati Raj Day, 24th April 2020.The scheme aims to provide the ‘record of rights’ to village household owners in rural areas and issue Property Cards.

The Scheme is being implemented across India in a phased manner over a period of four years (2020-2024) and would eventually cover around 6.62 lakh villages of the country. About 1 lakh villages in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, and few border villages of Punjab & Rajasthan, along with establishment of Continuous Operating System (CORS) stations’ network across Punjab and Rajasthan, are being covered in the Pilot phase (2020-21).

All these six States have signed MoU with Survey of India for drone survey of rural areas and implementation of the scheme. These States have finalised the digital property card format and the villages to be covered for drone-based survey. States of Punjab and Rajasthan have signed MoU with Survey of India for establishment of CORS network to assist in future drone flying activities.

Also, different states have different nomenclature for the Property Cards viz. ‘Title deed’ in Haryana, ‘Rural Property Ownership Records (RPOR)’ in Karnataka, ‘Adhikar Abhilekh’ in Madhya Pradesh, ‘Sannad’ in Maharashtra, ‘Svamitva Abhilekh’ in Uttarakhand, ‘Gharauni’ in Uttar Pradesh.

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