Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Sh Giriraj Singh and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today e-launched Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) and Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA), two ambitious projects in Jammu and Kashmir.While launching the schemes today at civil secretariat here, the Lt Governor remarked that the technology based schemes will change the rural landscape in terms of quick and convenient access to the land owners, especially those living in abadi-deh.“The initiatives will also help eliminate corruption and hence, it is another step towards people-friendly, transparent, corruption-free governance, said the Lt Governor. Pertinently, J&K is the 13th State/UT in the country to implement ULPIN.Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Sh Giriraj Singh said that the initiatives launched today are reflective of the central government’s working on the principles of ease of doing compliance and transparency. He said that the union government is committed to the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir.He also complemented the Lt Governor led UT administration for ensuring implementation of 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, as J&K is among very few states/UTs which have wholly transferred the Funds, Functions, and Functionaries to the PRIs and Urban Local Bodies.
Referring to the transfer of powers to PRIs and ULBs, he said, ‘the fact that what had not been done since 1992 has been done effectively in the last one year shows the UT administration’s commitment towards people-friendly policies and decentralization of powers’, said the Union minister.It may be mentioned that ULPIN will be a single, authoritative source of information on any parcel of land or property to facilitate the Direct Benefit Transfer to the accounts of farmers/landowners, availing loan, disaster relief etc. The unique parcel number like Aadhar will help in auto-update of registration & mutation. Further integration of ULPIN with various services will greatly facilitate the land/property owners.Similarly, SVAMITVA will be like a property card with legal sanctity, an authoritative source reflective of record of ownership/possession. The schemes, encompassing the length and breadth of the Union Territory, will involve the use of the most modern technology for surveys, extraction of data and final compilation of the records for public use. These are the latest initiatives in the government of India’s reforms in Land Records.The schemes will be completed within a year. Once completed, they will empower the villagers and land owners to access the revenue records of their properties, obviating the dependence on human interface.Those present on the occasion included Sh Farooq Khan, Advisor to Lt Governor; Sh Ajay Tirkey, Secretary Department of Land Resources, GoI; Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Sh Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary Revenue and Home department; Sh Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary Department of Rural Development; Sh HS Meena, Additional Secretary DoLR; Ms. Sarita Chauhan, Commissioner Secretary, Department of Labour and Employment; Ms. Yasha Mudgal, Secretary Cooperatives; Dr. Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Amit Kumar, Secretary IT; Deputy Commissioners, and senior officers from GoI and various departments of the UT.Chairpersons DDC, PRIs representatives, besides others also took part in the launching ceremony through virtual mode.