Recently the Indian Government has announced almost 90% of Jammu & Kashmir’s land has now been geo-referenced, This is a very significant step towards improving governance and giving the people a means to ensure that the government is accountable.
This announcement is not simply an update to the administrative record of land, but more importantly it is the foundation of Transparency and Economic Justice – both of which contribute to enabling Sustainable Peace in a region that has suffered tremendously from unrest.
Land records up until now were kept in a manner that is less than clear, often containing very old handwritten records along with what would be considered oral testimony.
It is estimated that approximately 1/3 of the total number of civil disputes in Jammu & Kashmir are related to land issues, because of this large number of outstanding land related disputes many families are trapped in a vicious cycle of financial stress and uncertain ownership of their land.
The geo-referencing initiative is the first true attempt to correct the problems caused by the uncertainty that has existed historically around Land Ownership.
By connecting geographic coordinates to government land records, geo-referencing allows for an exact match between the digital representation of a plot’s boundary (on the map) and how that boundary exists in reality (on the ground).
With the technological progression being made by merging these two types of records, there are many benefits to the geo-referencing process.
One major benefit of the geo-referencing process is a decrease in the number of disputes over ownership of land. Disputes over land ownership can be greatly minimized when the process of defining property boundaries with science and digitizing all of the documentation.
The collaborative efforts displayed by the government in these successes are laudable. For example, the implementation of citizen engagement through the use of village verification camps to promote citizen involvement.
As a result of allowing citizens to review their respective land records and register objections before records have been finalized, the government is creating a culture of public trust in the digital conversion base on citizen engagement and participation.
