A standing committee of Parliament on rural development has recommended giving legal validity to digitally signed land records without the need to obtain physical certified copies for all legal, financial and administrative processes. According to reports from Business Standard, the panel headed by Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka stated that citizens should be able to use digitally authenticated land records for all legal, financial and administrative purposes without requiring physical certified copies. The committee emphasized that legal validity of digitally signed land records is crucial for preventing travel, accelerating property sales and ensuring quick loan approvals. The committee has also flagged the special challenges in the Northeast, where customary and community ownership systems do not always fit the individual ownership model used elsewhere, as reported by The Times of India.
The Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has reviewed the progress of the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP). As of January 31, 2026, 99.81 per cent of Records of Rights had been computerised and 97.42 per cent of cadastral maps had been digitised, but these records had been integrated in only 84.32 per cent of villages, leaving a significant gap between digitisation and actual integration. The programme, which began in 2008, has received ₹2,664.33 crore from the Centre so far, with current phase allocation increased from ₹875 crore to ₹984.61 crore. More than 37 crore land parcels across 29 states and Union Territories have been given Unique Land Parcel Identification Numbers, known as Bhu-Aadhaar, as reported by The Times of India.
The committee has called for registration and mutation to be linked in every state so that a sale automatically updates ownership records. As reported by The Times of India, 95.73 per cent of Sub-Registrar Offices have been computerised and 88.56 per cent are electronically linked with revenue offices. In 17 states, property registration can automatically trigger mutation, or the updation of ownership records. The committee also recommended that landowners should receive SMS alerts whenever a transfer or mutation application is filed against their property. There has been progress in linking land records with property registration, with 17 states and UTs adopting the National Generic Document Registration System, while five states—Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh—have gone fully paperless.
To boost self-employment under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), the committee recommended enhancing credit flows and fast-tracking the 'Lakhpati Didi' initiative. As reported by Business Standard, the committee also recommended institutionalisation and special incentives for the training and placement of women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and differently-abled candidates to enhance their participation in rural enterprises. The recommendations aim to strengthen rural entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.
The committee has called for faster computerisation of Revenue Courts and clear deadlines for mutation and correction cases. As reported by The Times of India, 26 states and UTs have approval to connect e-Courts with land and registration databases, allowing buyers to check whether a property is involved in litigation. The next phase, DILRMP 3.0 for 2026-31, is expected to use artificial intelligence, GIS, drones, cloud computing and blockchain-based systems. The government is already testing NAKSHA, which uses drones and satellite surveys to create digital land records in urban areas, covering 157 urban local bodies with surveys completed in 119, and is planned for expansion to all 4,912 urban local bodies. A separate Land Stack pilot is being tested to bring land ownership records, maps, registration and municipal data onto a single platform.
