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Bhoomi, a project in Karnataka to computerise all land records in the state, will streamline operations and eliminate corruption at several different levels.
On most days, Rajeev Chawla, IAS, may be found in his office haranguing people: he has had to wrestle with private data entry companies, with tehsil and block officials from all around Karnataka, and with his own administration in his ongoing quest to computerise land records for the state of Karnataka. His project is simply called 'Bhoomi', which means 'land' in many Indian languages. Karnataka was formed through the coalescence of the princely Mysore state with Kannada-speaking sections of the Bombay Presidency and princely Hyderabad. For this reason, there are three different systems of maintaining land-records in Karnataka state. Added to these differences are the local idiosyncrasies across each of the 30-odd districts of the state. The post of village accountant has been a hereditary title, and each new generation has had only their native smarts, and their apprenticeship with their fathers, to guide them in their work. The power and authority of patidars, patwaris, patils, tehsildars, and other similar title-holders in the village environment is legion: their signature can create or efface a family's livelihood and assets. Graft, large and small, is still the norm rather than the exception. The Bhoomi project holds out the promise that individual caprice and corruption can be limited, or at least frustrated at many levels, through the intelligent design of new information systems. Much of Chawla's energies in the last several years has been directed towards designing a system that would be constantly updatable and yet constantly online, tamper-proof, confidential, and reliable as a mammoth database of every last parcel of land held by citizens in Karnataka. Landowners may receive a free printout of information on their holdings once a year at networked kiosks or counters set up within administrative buildings at the tehsil< level. Subsequent copies incur a minimal processing fee of Rs 15. These computer-generated documents have statutory authority, and can be used for judicial and financial purposes. Contact: http://revdept.kar.nic.in
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