Policy Update
Paridhi Passi
Background
For over seven decades after Independence, millions of families living in rural India’s Abadi (inhabited) areas had no legal document proving ownership of the homes they lived in. These areas — referred to as lal dora in many states — were simply never surveyed or recorded by revenue departments. Without a formal title, residents could not mortgage their property for loans, and property disputes had no legal basis for resolution. What should have been a financial asset remained invisible to the formal economy.
To address this, the Government of India launched the SVAMITVA Scheme (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas), with its first pilot phase on 24th April 2020, celebrated as National Panchayati Raj Day. It comes under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) as a Central Sector Scheme. The pilot phase during 2020–21 covered Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and select villages in Punjab, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh, following which the scheme was extended to the whole country on 24th April 2021.
Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB), Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India (2025)
The scheme has several objectives:
- Providing Record of Rights (property cards/title deeds) to rural household owners in Abadi areas
- Helping citizens use their property as collateral for bank loans
- Preparing GIS maps and land records for better planning at the village level
- Helping Gram Panchayats with property tax collection
- Bringing down property disputes and helping to make better GPDPs
The scheme runs through a joint effort of MoPR, State Revenue Departments, State Panchayati Raj Departments and the Survey of India (SOI), which handles the technology part. A budget of ₹566.23 crores has been sanctioned for FY 2020–21 to 2025–26 and the scheme targets around 6.62 lakh villages across the country.
Functioning
Before drone surveys can begin, a Continuously Operating Reference System (CORS) network is set up in the target region. This helps in accurate geo-positioning and replaces the older chain survey methods that were used earlier. Without this, the drone data would not be precise enough to serve as legal records.
After this groundwork, the implementation moves ahead in a step-by-step manner involving several departments working together:
- Village notification – Villages are first identified and officially notified for drone mapping.
- Community sensitization – Revenue Department and Gram Panchayat officials visit the village and explain the scheme to residents.
- Boundary demarcation – The boundaries of the Abadi area are marked on the ground using chuna (limestone powder) before the drone flies.
- Drone survey and data processing – Survey of India conducts the drone survey and processes the data to prepare maps.
- Ground verification – These maps are then sent to State Revenue Departments for verification and corrections.
- Property card generation and distribution – Once verified, property cards are prepared and handed over to the owners.
- Digital access – The cards are also available digitally through the DigiLocker app.
The entire process is monitored through an online dashboard that tracks progress in real time. Since so many agencies are involved, a delay in any one department can hold up the whole process.
Performance
The scheme has come a long way since 2021. As of 8th May 2026, drone surveys have been completed in 3,26,889 villages and property cards prepared for 1,81,354 villages (Ministry of Panchayati Raj, SVAMITVA Dashboard, 8 May 2026). Over 11.17 crore land parcels have been digitised. The total surveyed Abadi land is around 67,000 sq. km.
Some states have done well. Haryana, Uttarakhand, Goa, Tripura, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have completed both surveys and card distribution. Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Odisha however remain behind.
According to the IIM Ahmedabad evaluation (2026), over 10,900 bank loans worth Rs. 1,679 crore have been sanctioned using property cards issued under the scheme. Budget allocation has also gone up over the years, from Rs. 79.65 crore in FY 2020-21 to Rs. 150 crore in FY 2022-23.
Impact
The most direct impact of SVAMITVA has been financial inclusion. For the first time, rural households can present legally recognized property documents to banks. An IIM Ahmedabad evaluation (supported by the World Bank and presented at the World Bank Land and Property Research Conference, April–May 2026) reported an increase in credit uptake of approximately 6.5% across Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, with loan amounts in surveyed parcels in MP rising by over ₹22,000 per parcel annually.
On the governance side, GPs now have GIS maps to prepare better-quality GPDPs — moving away from the “wish-list” style of planning that existed due to absent demarcation data. This also supports property tax collection, strengthening GP finances and their constitutional mandate under the 73rd Amendment.
The scheme has potential to formalize women’s property rights in rural areas, and official statements have highlighted this aspect. However, actual implementation tells a more complicated story — addressed below. The scheme also won the National e-Governance Award 2023 and was showcased at the World Bank Land Conference 2025 in Washington D.C. as an international best-practice model.
Emerging Issues
- Legal validity gaps: Property cards do not automatically carry legal sanctity in all states. They need to be incorporated into state Revenue Acts with stamp duty provisions to be legally enforceable — something several states have yet to complete.
- State-level bottlenecks: There is a growing gap between maps handed over by Survey of India and maps returned by states after verification, indicating delays at the state implementation level (DMEO/NITI Aayog, 2023).
- Gender exclusion: As per a socio-legal analysis by CSEP (2022), property cards tend to get issued in the name of the male household head due to patriarchal norms. There is no mandatory joint titling provision for spouses in the scheme — something the Forest Rights Act does have — and this could end up deepening gender-based property inequality.
- Marginalized communities: Groups like Dalits, Adivasis and sharecroppers are at risk of being left out, mainly because of incomplete documentation and the power imbalances that come up during verification. The 15-day objection window after preliminary records is also quite limited, more so for migrant workers who may not even be around.
- Encroachment complications: In many villages, homes have come up on common lands and ponds over the years. Drone surveys can record what exists on the ground but cannot legally resolve such cases, which may end up giving rise to new disputes.
- Awareness and digital literacy: Many villagers, particularly in remote and tribal areas, are unaware of the scheme or how to access their property cards through DigiLocker.
- Data Privacy and Cybersecurity: Since the scheme involves drone surveys and digital mapping of household land, questions around data privacy and misuse of these records cannot be ignored. India currently lacks a clear framework to govern such sensitive rural land data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Suggestions: Some key recommendations are making joint titling for spouses mandatory, extending the objection window to 30–45 days, amending state Revenue Acts to give legal recognition to property cards, setting up block level grievance redressal cells and linking SVAMITVA with PM Awas Yojana (Gramin) and MGNREGS for better impact at the ground level.
Way Forward
SVAMITVA is arguably one of the most significant rural governance reforms since Independence. Its core idea is simple but powerful — giving families legal recognition over the homes they occupy. The ripple effects on credit access, local planning, dispute reduction, and democratic empowerment are considerable.
With property cards prepared for 1,81,354 villages and drone surveys completed in 3,26,889 villages as of 8th May 2026, the scheme has covered substantial ground. But speed of implementation must not come at the cost of equity. If property cards end up formalizing existing exclusions — of women, Dalits, or tribal communities — the scheme would entrench inequality rather than resolve it.
The remaining work is not just about completing surveys — it is about ensuring the cards actually work: that banks accept them, that courts recognize them, and that every household, not just the well-connected, benefits. SVAMITVA, if implemented with these corrections, could lay the foundational infrastructure for a truly Atmanirbhar rural India by 2047.
References
- Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI. (2026). SVAMITVA Scheme Official Portal & Dashboard (accessed 08 May 2026). https://svamitva.nic.in
- DMEO, NITI Aayog. (2023). An Analysis of the SVAMITVA Scheme: Successes and Way Forward. https://dmeo.gov.in/article/analysis-svamitva-scheme-successes-and-way-forward
- CSEP. (2022). SVAMITVA: A Socio-Legal Analysis. https://csep.org/working-paper/swamitva-a-socio-legal-analysis/
- PIB. (2025, January 18). PM Distributes Over 65 Lakh Property Cards Under SVAMITVA. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2088143
- Hindustan Times / PTI. (2026, May 1). SVAMITVA maps 3.3L villages, unlocks ₹135 lakh crore in rural land value: Study showcased at World Bank meet. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/svamitva-maps-3-3l-villages-unlocks-rs-135l-cr-in-rural-land-value-study-showcased-at-wb-meet-101777575581239.html
- Survey of India. SVAMITVA Scheme. https://www.surveyofindia.gov.in/pages/svamitva
About the contributor
Paridhi Passi is a Research Intern at IMPRI and a second-year Political Science (Hons.) student at Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi. Her academic interests lie in public policy and governance.
Acknowledgement
The author extends sincere thanks to the IMPRI team for their guidance.
Disclaimer: All views and interpretations expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the organization.
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