Govt proposes 'Bhu-Aadhaar' for rural land identification

New Delhi: The Union government on Tuesday proposed unique identification number for land or 'Bhu-Aadhaar' in rural areas and digitisation of all urban land records as part of several land-related reforms in the Budget.

In her speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre would work with states to carry out these land reforms, both in rural and urban areas. The Centre would provide fiscal support to incentivise states to complete these reforms within the next three years. Working with states, the finance minister said the government will initiate land-related reforms by state governments.

"Land-related reforms and actions, both in rural and urban areas, will cover (1) land administration, planning and management, and (2) urban planning, usage and building bylaws. These will be incentivized for completion within the next 3 years through appropriate fiscal support," Sitharaman said.

On rural land-related actions, she said these would include assignment of Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhaar for all lands; digitization of cadastral maps; survey of map sub-divisions as per current ownership; establishment of land registry; and linking to the farmers registry. These actions will also facilitate credit flow and other agricultural services, the minister added.

On urban land-related actions, Sitharaman said, "Land records in urban areas will be digitized with GIS mapping. An IT based system for property record administration, updating, and tax administration will be established. These will also facilitate improving the financial position of urban local bodies."

The finance minister outlined that the central government would formulate an "economic policy framework" to delineate the overarching approach to economic development and set the scope of the next generation of reforms for facilitating employment opportunities and sustaining high growth. "Our government will initiate and incentivize reforms for (1) improving productivity of factors of production, and (2) facilitating markets and sectors to become more efficient. These reforms will cover all factors of production, namely land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship, and technology as an enabler of improving total factor productivity and bridging inequality," she said.

An effective implementation of several of these reforms requires collaboration between the Centre and the states and building consensus, as development of the country lies in development of the states, the finance minister stressed. "For promoting competitive federalism and incentivizing states for faster implementation of reforms, I propose to earmark a significant part of the 50-year interest-free loan," she said.