It's my land ..

Land disputes in India take, on an average, about 20 years to be resolved. To make matters worse, land-related disputes account for nearly two-thirds of all pending court cases in India. Some staggering statistics!

Disputes related to land ownership affect agriculture as land is used as collateral for obtaining loans by farmers. Such issues also affect development of new infrastructure due to non-availability of encumbrance free land, demands for higher compensation by land owners, and filing of large number of arbitration cases by land owners. Land related disputes impact urbanisation too given the acute shortage for housing in the country.

Last, but not the least generation of black money through benami transactions could be pre-empted and eliminated by digitisation of land records and their regular updation.

The question to understand is why is land a cause of so many disputes?

The key reasons why there are so many land disputes is because land titles in India are unclear due to legacy issues of the zamindari system, gaps in our legal framework, and poor administration of land records.

Hence, to improve the quality of land records in the country, make them more accessible, and move towards government-guaranteed titles, the government launched National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP), in 2008. As part of Modi government’s Digital India initiative, the program was revamped to Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), in 2016.

However, statistics show that progress has been, at best, slow. Consider these:

·      Between 2008 to 2017, only 64% of the funds released (nearly $200 million) under DILRMP were utilised.

·      Computerisation of land records was completed in 86% of the villages.

In addition, maps form an important component of land records as they provide data on property boundaries and exact limits of ownership, but only 48% of maps could be digitized till now. Lastly, survey/re-survey work could be completed in only 9% of the villages.

IBM has been a reliable and trusted partner of land registry agencies across the globe, from Europe to Asia Pacific, and basis our experience in this domain, the slow progress can be attributed to the volume of records, most of which used to be stored manually.

While the problem is humongous, digitization is, perhaps, only the first step in the right direction. The solution needs to ensure that all existing land records are accurate and free of any encumbrances. It also needs to be more all-encompassing to address issues around land ownership, which the DILRMP so far has not addressed.

It is widely believed that Blockchain can offer a solution – both for land records and for land ownership. Blockchain can help improve transparency, trust and efficiency of registry data.

But, why Blockchain?

Blockchain adds the following important attributes:

?       Mutual Consensus and history: The detailed asset detail including any changes will get reflected

?       Immutability: One the transaction is committed it can’t be altered or tempered.

?       Decisiveness: Since the transections can’t be altered virtually all disputes will get eliminated.

Imagine a national land registry which creates an auditable trail of ownership and secures title, as summarized in the graphic below.

Blockchain technology, hence, modernizes and builds a computerized, immutable, and verifiable land registry. It improves security, and helps make the whole process move faster with more visibility across the parties involved, as it makes it possible to trace back the history of ownership records.

Because of the benefits it brings, many governments have started experimenting with the potential of blockchain for their land registry processes. Some quick examples:

UK: In April this year, UK’s HM Land Registry completes blockchain trial as part of a wider digital transformation initiative which aims to simplify and speed up the process of buying and selling property.

ASEAN: The statutory board responsible for land in a key ASEAN country wanted to reduce the complexity involved in conveyancing by cutting down on the manual and time-consuming steps the process. IBM Blockchain is helping make the whole process faster with more visibility across the parties.

Ghana: Given the long history of land disputes in the country, and government’s focus on improving ease of doing business, Ghana is exploring blockchain’s use for government land registers to improve and accelerate government efficiency, reduce fraud and restore trust.

Netherlands: Netherlands is working to integrate the blockchain solution into the its land registry ecosystem within over the next 2-3 years.

Given the long history of land disputes in our country, and current government’s focus on improving ease of doing business, it is time India explores blockchain’s use for government land registers to improve the accelerate government efficiency, reduce fraud and restore trust.

Data Source: Internet