Union Panchayati Raj Ministry proposes Finance Ministry to implement Centre’s 'SWAMITVA' scheme across India
Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 9
The Union Panchayati Raj Ministry has proposed to the Finance Ministry’s Department of Expenditure for extension of Centre’s “SWAMITVA” scheme across India.
It is being presently implemented in nine states, including Haryana and Punjab, on pilot basis.
Panchayti Raj Ministry’s Secretary Sunil Kumar informed that the proposal for the extension of scheme’s implementation is with an outlay of over Rs 566 crore to cover nearly 5.41 lakh villages.
The Union Budget 2021-22 provides allocations of Rs 200 crores for the scheme’s implementation in 16 states targeting 2.30 lakh villages.
The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 24, 2020 — the National Panchayati Raj Day. Distribution of property cards was rolled out by him on October 1.
SVAMITVA — Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas — is to provide ‘record of rights’ to village household owners possessing houses in inhabited villages and issuance of “property cards” to the property owners following survey of village areas with help of drone technology by Survey of India.
The overarching plan is to prepare GIS based maps for each village which would help in effective village level planning.
The scheme covers multifarious aspects including facilitating monetisation of properties and enabling bank loan and reducing property related disputes.
The pilot phase of the scheme had been approved with a budget outlay of Rs 79.65 crore.
The other states where scheme is being implemented are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
Till January 31, “Drone Survey” has been completed in about 23,300 villages. Property Cards have been prepared and distributed under distribution to about 2.30 lakh property holders of about 1,432 villages.
Kumar said a total of Rs 913.43 crore has been provided to Panchayat Raj Ministry in the Budget 2021-22 which marks 32 per cent increase over the revised estimate of 2020-21.
The major part of it of Rs 593 crores is provided under the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) — a centrally sponsored scheme that aims to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) with main focus on convergence with “Mission Antyodya”.
