Never has Jammu and Kashmir been so much on the Centre’s radar than now, it seems. The Prime Minister was there on Sunday to celebrate the National Panchayati Raj Day and addressed all Gram Sabhas across the country from Jammu. He also sat in the hall of a Gram Panchayat office and interacted with local panchayat representatives.
Now this particular gram panchayat is special because it has just won a national award as well as a unique distinction. The Palli Gram Panchayat in Samba district of Jammu received an award for achieving 100 per cent saturation in core computerisation/digitisation parameters of Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), thereby becoming the first Digital Land Governance Iconic Village Panchayat of the country. At the same time, it also achieved the distinction of becoming the country’s first carbon-neutral panchayat.
The DILRMP award was handed over to the Patwari and the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat by Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh and Lt. Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha on the National Panchayati Raj Day.
According to the Secretary of the Department of Land Resources, Mr. Ajay Tirkey, most of the court cases and disputes in the country are related to land. Hence, the digitisation of land records is a game changer that will help to curb such disputes and facilitate ease of living and ease of doing business for all.
In an interaction with Indian Masterminds, Joint Secretary, Department of Land Resources, Government of India, Mr. Sonmoni Borah, IAS, explained the significance of the award and why Palli Gram Panchayat was selected as the winner.
THE CONCEPT
The award idea was conceptualised and developed by Mr. Sonmoni Borah, IAS, and his team. His division, Land Regulations and Reforms, is working for saturation of basic components of digitisation of land records.
Mr. Borah told Indian Masterminds, “This is the first-of-its-kind initiative where the contribution of Patwari level revenue functionaries is being recognised. India has 656515 villages and now the whole focus is to saturate the basic components of Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme using the Geospatial technology and assigning Unique ID to each land parcel and linking to PM Excellence Award initiative National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS), so that it benefits one and all in India.”
Two villages – Palli and Bassi Khurd – won the award for Palli Gram Panchayat by achieving 100 per cent saturation in respect of core computerisation/digitisation parameters of Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), by 15 April 2022.
AWARD CRITERIA
Mr. Borah said that the Department of Land Resources had asked for names of villages that fulfil certain criteria to give away the Digital Land Governance lconic Village Award. “We were looking for villages where 100% (all) Records of Rights (RoRs) are computerised; 100% cadastral maps are digitised and geo-referenced, 1OO% land parcels are assigned Unique Land Parcel ldentification Number (ULPIN), and 1OO% deeds/documents have been registered using National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) or equivalent software applications (which should include basic Eleven NGDRS module as minimum),” he said.
PLACE OF PRIDE
The certificates awarded to Sarpanch Randhir Sharma and Patwari Udhayvir Singh proudly adorn the meeting hall of Palli Gram Panchayat office, where Prime Minister Modi interacted with Panchayat representatives on Sunday. He also declared Palli as the country’s first carbon neutral panchayat after the inauguration of a 500-KW solar power plant.
The PM, on his first major visit to Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, participated in the celebration of National Panchayati Raj Day and addressed all Gram Sabhas across the country from there. He also transferred award money to Panchayats that are winners of awards given across different categories on National Panchayati Raj Day for their achievements.
With the initiative of the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, UT administration of Jammu and Kashmir and its Revenue Department, Survey of India, NIC teams and local officials of Samba District, 100 per cent digitisation of land records was made possible in a difficult and challenging territory and Palli has become a pioneer for the rest of the country.
