ULPIN project will revolutionise Governance – Giriraj Singh

NEW DELHI: The Bhu-Aadhaar or Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) project will usher economic and social prosperity, as it will bring about transparency in land dealings and will mark another step towards Ease of Living. Being implemented by Department of Land Resources, the project will lead to the world’s largest database on land ownership. These observations were made by Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh after inaugurating ‘Bhumi Samvaad – IV: National Conference on Digitising and Geo-referencing India with Bhu-Aadhaar (ULPIN)’, in New Delhi.

Emphasising that citizen-centric Bhu-Aadhaar will revolutionise governance of Sashakt Bharat, the Minister said once the digitisation process of land records and registration is complete, it will help mitigate the huge pendency of court cases involving land disputes. The GDP loss to the country’s economy is about 1.3% due to projects being stalled over litigation involving land disputes, he said. According to a study, says, 66% of all civil suits in India are related to land or property disputes, and the average pendency of a land acquisition dispute is 20 years.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel, Faggan Singh Kulaste said without the digitisation of land records, India cannot progress and be a developed nation. In his address, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Kapil Moreshwar Patil said the Bhu-Aadhaar and SVAMITVA schemes will immensely benefit the farmers.

Secretary, Department of Land Resources (DoLR) Ajay Tirkey said the computerisation of land registrations is 94% complete and 9 crore land parcels now have Bhu-Aadhaar. Transliteration of land records will be available in 22 languages in the near future, facilitating the citizens of the country. The Secretary said Bhu-Aadhaar has been rolled out in 26 states, and is in implementation process in the remaining nine states barring Meghalaya due to its tradition of community ownership of land parcels. By March, 2024, the Department targets to achieve 100% of land records under Bhu-Aadhaar.