The Hindu : `Bhoomi' earns kudos for Govt.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

`Bhoomi' earns kudos for Govt.

By R. Vijaya Kumar

BANGALORE Dec. 16. The Centre's proposal to replicate Karnataka's "Bhoomi" project throughout the country reflects well on the State Government.

Bhoomi, the self-sustaining e-governance project for the computerised delivery of rural land records is a novel project. It will not only transform rural life but also help achieve the much-needed transparency in revenue administration, which is riddled with corruption and red tape.

The credit for this revolutionary step should go to the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, who not only initiated the project but also kept up a sustained effort to implement it speedily.

The Bhoomi project will benefit 35 million people, including 6.5 million farmers, and cover 20 million land records through 177 Government-owned kiosks in 29,220 villages in the State.

The Union Minister for Information Technology and Communications, Pramod Mahajan, at a meeting of Revenue Secretaries last Friday promised to spend Rs. 30 crore for computerisation of land records on the lines of Karnataka's Bhoomi project in one district of every State in a year.

He also announced that the Centre would replicate the Bhoomi project in the entire country in stages and asked all State governments and Union territories to identify one district and look for local infrastructure. Mr. Mahajan also promised to allocate Rs. one crore for each district under this project.

That the State's Bhoomi project has become a role model for the entire country speaks of the Government's commitment to the cause of bringing in transparency in the Revenue Department, rightly considered the mother of all government departments. The Minister for Revenue, H.C. Srikantaiah, is elated over the Centre's recognition of the Bhoomi project. He told The Hindu that the credit for the project should go to the Chief Minister, who evinced keen interest in initiating and implementing the project.

Mr. Srikantaiah said that Bhoomi was not merely a tool to reform the agricultural land records system. It was critical to farmers as the records were proof of ownership based on which loans could be obtained. It would ensure social justice as improper records often led to litigation. The system would also ensure that the Government got its dues in the form of land revenue.

Mr. Srikantaiah said that the new system would not only eliminate manual entries but also help curtail the manipulation of records.

He said that six million farmers had visited the kiosks and mutations increased three-fold and land-based litigation had come down. All handwritten records had been fully substituted by computerised records. The imposition of user charges, with better delivery of services, made the scheme viable and sustainable. The collection of user charges had gone up to Rs. one crore a month. As against the expenditure of Rs. 18 crore on the project, Rs. nine crore had already been realised

Mr. Srikantaiah said the Government had decided to computerise all the 250-odd sub-registrar's offices in the State. Efforts were being made to involve private parties in the scheme.

The Bhoomi project has already attracted the attention of eight States. So far, the project has won international recognition with the Finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2002, silver medal in the CAPAM Innovation Award 2002, and the Finalist TechMuseum Award 2002.

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