Context:  

Recently, the United States hosted the World Bank Land Conference 2025 in Washington D.C., where India earned international recognition for its innovative and technology driven rural governance initiatives. 

Key highlights of the conference:

• The theme of the 2025 World Bank Land Conference was "Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action: Moving from Awareness to Action."
• It aims to move from awareness to action by highlighting effective strategies for securing land tenure and access and to scale up land sector initiatives, investments, and policy reforms in support of climate change mitigation and adaption. 
• During the conference, India assumed the role of a Country Champion under the leadership of Shri Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. 
• India managed to drew global attention towards its flagship initiatives like SVAMITVA Scheme and the Gram Manchitra platform as models of inclusive, technology-driven rural governance.

In the Plenary Session on “Good Practices and Challenges in Land Tenure and Governance Reform”, India outlined how secure land ownership through SVAMITVA is: 

• Improving livelihoods 
• Empowering women
• Enabling access to credit in rural India 

• The session illustrated SVAMITVA’s end-to-end approach from survey to legal documentation positioning it as a replicable model for inclusive development and institutional convergence.

• In the technical session on “Establishing the Land Foundation for Climate Action and Disaster Risk Management”, India showcased Gram Manchitra, a geospatial planning platform that empowers Gram Panchayats to prepare data-driven, localized development plans. 

• The tool’s role in promoting climate resilience, infrastructure planning, and convergence of schemes was demonstrated drawing appreciation for its applicability in global south context.

• The tool was positioned as a forward-looking solution for disaster preparedness and inclusive development.  

• The conference concluded with several countries expressing interest in adopting similar models, underscoring India’s growing influence in shaping global rural development discourse through digital governance. 

SVAMITVA Scheme

• The SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) was launched by PM on April 24, 2020, on the National Panchayati Raj Day.
• It is a Central Sector scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj that provides a ‘Record of Rights’ to household owners in village Abadi areas with the issuance of legal ownership cards (Property cards/Title deeds) by mapping land parcels using advanced drone and GIS technology.
• This scheme provides legal ownership of rural properties using drone and, property card to over 24.4 million households across 1.6 lakh villages.

Gram Manchitra Platform

• Gram Manchitra is a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform designed to enhance rural governance and planning in India.
• It provides a single/ unified Geo Spatial platform to better visualize the various developmental works to be taken up across the different sectors and provide a decision support system for Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP). 
• It provides several planning tools that use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to help Gram Panchayat officials develop realistic and achievable development plans. 
• These tools provide a decision support system in the preparation of development plans viz. tools for identifying potential sites for development projects, asset tracking, estimating the costs of projects, and assessing the impact of projects.  
• This application is being used in all States and UTs of the country

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. Discuss the significance of India’s flagship initiatives such as the SVAMITVA Scheme and Gram Manchitra platform in promoting inclusive, technology-driven rural governance. How do these initiatives contribute to secure land tenure and effective grassroots planning?