A demand-based, model for decentralized institutional mechanism of integrated survey, mapping, record up gradation at village and levels.
This is part of a larger initiative that CLG is addressing to compliment GOI’s flagship DILRMP in achieving its goal of conclusive Land titling. The objective is to see how community participation, transparency, efficiency and accountability is built in to the land surveying process. We also explore whether a demand-based, revenue-model of decentralized institutional mechanism of integrated survey, mapping, record updation can be made available at village levels. With increasing disputes (> 60% land related) , conflicts, competition and demand for land in India to conservation, social welfare and biomass production, demand for such services are growing at different level.
With ubiquity of mobile phones and cloud computing, citizen-based creation and validation of large-scale databases, and expanding scope of crowd sourcing, downsized, simple, easy to use, low cost, higher accuracy survey and mapping options are also increasingly available.
In this context we are working on fast-evolving community-mapping tools as a low-cost, effective and inclusive option to compliment and supplement Hi-tech survey. The objective is to expedite move towards conclusive titling by combining the strength of the two processes at two levels. While the mobile-mapping tool will update, sync and integrate parcel level changes, tenures and complexities, inter-village mosaicing can be addressed by Hi-Tech survey, apart from complimenting the former.
In line with the recommendation of India Summary report of LGAF, we are now finalizing pilots with use of community-led mapping tools to address the tenurial heterogeneity, assess potential success or failure, time frames, cost-effectiveness and strategies for up scaling of successful approaches.
Community-mapping has the potential to update land records, in a symbiotic space, where technology, institutions, legal-processes and society interact and integrate. The pilot uses a mobile application capable of achieving accuracy up to 20 cm with DGPS augmentation, can work online and offline and embed third party layers to help better visualization, triangulation and transparency. It has demonstrated triggering of participation of community, members of local-self –governance institutions and field staff of land-departments, in a pilot on forest rights mapping in Odisha in 2016. It can capture and embed visual, textual and spatial information and can contribute to development of Multi-purpose cadaster (MPC). With training of local resources, this community mapping will integrate customary and formal (new and updated) individual and communal tenures over private and public land, existing land uses, encumbrances and property information. ‘Fit for Purpose’ model is being used to fit technology to the context, be economical and avoid conflicts.