Land records are of great importance to contemporary socioeconomic imperatives, and their revision and updation are necessary for capturing the changes in rural social dynamics. Use of computers in rural development in India came through research on the utility computer during 1975-1980 by Patel (1979). A general awareness of the utility of computer was created in the bureaucracy through seminars and training programs (Computer Society of India (CSI), 1981, Informatics, An International Symposium on Informatics for Development). By 1988, about 15 districts in India had started using personal computers for producing integrated rural development monthly reports (Patel, 1986; Bhatnagar, 1987; and Bhatnagar and Patel 1988).
The Government of India, under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, decided to increase the pace of IT use at the district level in 1985. The National Informatics Centre (NIC)– a central government department was chosen to implement a national program called District Information System of National Informatics Centre (DISNIC) to computerize all district offices, for which free hardware and software were offered. Each district headquarter was connected to a state computer through a local dish antenna and a satellite communication network by 1990 (Bedi et al., 2001; Dhingra and Mishra, 2001; and Vittal 2001). And the state computer in turn was connected to a computer in New Delhi. This network is called NICNET. NIC trained 2,000 technical staff to undertake the new challenge of computerization. Software application was developed centrally for about 15 standardized applications for each district. A memorandum of understanding was signed by NIC with each state government, under which state-level cells manned by NIC staff provided support to district level computerization.
In a separate program called Computerized Rural Information System Project (CRISP), the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and NIC collaborated to develop software for planning and monitoring of Integrated Rural Development Policy (IRDP) in 1987. A PC/AT was provided to each District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) to run the software. The focus was on developing database, modeling techniques for planning at the district level and providing relevant information for central planning.
The purpose of this paper is to understand Computerization of Land Records (CoLR) as an operations process toward national development. The process of CoLR enables detailed mapping of areas and land under different usage patterns, enables an analysis of mapping of nature of barren land, ownership patterns, etc. The benefits are manifold, both for the individual and the state. For the individual, a computerized system helps in tracking land ownerships much quicker, resolving ambiguity regarding land ownerships, doing a ownership checking, etc. From the state’s point of view, this helps in tracking down whether land ownership is being fragmented to evade the maximum land ceiling, whether or how an individual is creepingly increasing ownership of land and whether such ownership is in clusters. The state can also, through mapping of arid, non-productive lands, prepare a land bank, from where industries can be allotted land for their usage.
With a view to understanding CoLR in India, the present paper is divided into three parts: CoLR in the states; digitization of cadastral maps; and Land Management Information Systems (LMIS).
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