India to showcase SVAMITVA scheme at World Bank Land Conference

 India's SVAMITVA scheme -– a massive project to digitalise land records — will be in global focus at the World Bank Land Conference that begins on Monday in the US capital.

According to an official, a delegation led by Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Vivek Bharadwaj, comprising of Joint Secretary, MoPR, Alok Prem Nagar, and Additional Surveyor General (Policy & Coordination), Survey of India, Shailesh Kumar Sinha, will represent India at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC.

The conference, themed 'Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action: Moving from Awareness to Action,' is scheduled to be held from May 5 to May 8.

The gathering will bring together global leaders, policymakers, experts and development partners to explore strategies to secure land tenure and land-use management to support climate resilience and sustainable development, the official said.

According to the Panchayati Raj Ministry, under SVAMITVA — Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas — efforts are underway to determine legal ownership of property in rural areas using drone and geospatial technology.

So far, under the scheme, property cards have been issued to 24.4 million households across over 1.6 lakh villages, and more than 100 million property parcels' mapping has been done.

As per Ministry data, the scheme has unlocked an estimated USD 1.162 trillion in land value.

On Tuesday, the Indian delegation will participate in the plenary session on 'Good Practices and Challenges in Land Tenure and Governance Reform.'

The session will open with a global update on land tenure and will feature high-level exchanges among leaders from participating countries, focusing on scalable solutions for land governance and tenure reform.

On Thursday, they will participate in a session on 'Establishing the Land Foundation for Climate Action and Disaster Risk Management.'

The Indian delegation will showcase the country's innovative use of high-resolution spatial data generated under the SVAMITVA Scheme through the Gram Manchitra platform — a powerful geospatial planning tool supporting village-level planning, solar energy site selection, disaster risk mitigation, and rural infrastructure development.

The agenda of the conference includes regional workshops, thematic exchanges, and an innovation expo, focused on accelerating secure land access, modernising land administration systems, and driving climate-responsive governance.

The SVAMITVA scheme involves high-resolution drone mapping, a nationwide CORS network ensuring 5 cm accuracy, and platforms like Gram Manchitra that enable climate-aligned village planning.