The Karnataka Revenue Department is planning to integrate e-Swathu, the digitally verified rural property records system, with the Centre’s Svamitva Yojana (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) to bring all rural property-related information onto a single platform, including sketches and geo-site images features that are currently not available in e-Swathu.

Confirming the development, officials from the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department and the Survey Settlement and Land Records (SSLR) Department told The Hindu that the move would help digitally map roads, drains and open spaces in villages, making it easier to identify encroachments on public spaces and bring all village property-related details under one system.

Pilot study

A comparison of property records under the Svamitva scheme and the RDPR Department highlighted that thousands of properties surveyed using drones are still to be brought under government records.

A pilot study conducted to understand this was done in 10 villages, which found that 5,089 properties had been mapped under the Centre’s Svamitva scheme. However, only 2,306 properties- about 45%- had proper digital property records, known as PID Khata, in the State’s e-Swathu system. Another 1,366 properties (27%) were linked only through old manual Khatas, while 1,417 properties (28%) had no Khata records at all.

Three out of 10 properties outside records

The officials said that three out of every 10 surveyed properties are still outside the official property records system despite being mapped through the Svamitva exercise. The data shows a major gap between drone survey data and existing government land records, due to the expansion of Gram Panchayat Habitation areas much beyond the official Gramathana area.

The mismatch is more evident in some villages. In Kurubarahalli village, for example, 217 properties were surveyed under the Svamitva, but not a single property had a PID Khata in the e-Swathu database.

Randeep D., secretary, RDPR (PR), said that in Karnataka, people in rural areas are already able to avail loans using Panchayat Khata documents through Forms 9 and 11. He said the State is therefore looking to go beyond the Centre’s basic objective of loan facilitation under the Svamitva.

Phase I

As part of Phase I of the amalgamation, the government plans to conduct first-time surveys of unsurveyed gramathana areas and create official digital records for such village settlements. “The aim is to transform the Svamitva into a broader land modernisation initiative, not limited to property loans alone, but focused on creating reliable records, GIS-based decision-making and long-term benefits for rural governance,” he said.

Why integration?

Explaining the need for integrating the Svamitva with e-Swathu, the official said the Svamitva database has been created for 11.40 lakh properties across the State. Of these, over 2.80 lakh properties are located within gramathana areas, while more than 8.60 lakh are outside gramathana limits. The analysis, Mr. Randeep said, showed that several properties mapped under the Svamitva are not fully reflected in Gram Panchayat property registers or e-Swathu records.

Venkat Raja, Commissioner, SSLR, said that integrating the Svamitva data with e-Swattu could help automatically update property records, identify houses that do not have Khatas, improve tax collection by Gram Panchayats and reduce duplication and errors caused by manual entries. Creating one common digital database for property records across departments is expected to make citizen services easier while reducing fake property cards and duplications.

Drone surveys have been done for about 96% of targeted area and for about 20% of area verified data is ready.

Officials said drone-mapping work has been carried out under the Swamitva Scheme by both the Survey of India and private agencies in different districts over the past few years. In seven districts, only residential areas have been surveyed so far, while Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts are yet to be taken up fully.

In Phase II, the department plans to seek assistance from the Survey Department to understand how properties were mapped under the Svamitva and train the RDPR staff to map the remaining properties so the initiative can be expanded further, Mr. Randeep said. He added that while property records exist across all districts, many still lack complete details such as exact measurements and geo-location data, which would be addressed by integrating e-Swathu and Swamitva data.