Bodoland Territorial Region created history, it became the first tribal area of Assam where all land records are completely digitized. This is being considered a big step towards transparency and resolution of land disputes.
New Delhi: Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) of Assam has become the first tribal council area in the country to completely digitize all its land records. This achievement is considered an important step in the councils formed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
According to officials, more than 15 lakh land-related documents, including text and maps, have been digitized in BTR, spread over an area of 8,970 square kilometers. This work was completed just a few weeks ago, ending the process of manual record-keeping that was going on for decades.
Councils under the Sixth Schedule
North-east India has a total of 10 autonomous tribal councils under the Sixth Schedule—three each in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram, and one in Tripura. Assam’s Karbi Anglong-West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao councils were set up nearly five decades before the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The BTC was set up in 2003.
The BTC currently administers five districts in north and west Assam.
Why was digitisation necessary?
The Sixth Schedule gives special rights to tribal areas in matters related to land, forest and local governance. Despite this, these councils face lack of resources, infrastructure challenges and administrative difficulties.
The BTR administration has adopted a technology-based governance system to overcome these obstacles. According to officials, the council has made this big change by working on the lines of the e-office system and the Digital India Mission.
BTC secretary Dhiraj Saud said the process, which began in 2023, was aimed at bringing transparency in land ownership and simplifying traditional land ownership patterns.
“The process involved ground-level surveys in all districts — Baksa, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Tamulpur and Udalguri. Old records, including those dating back several decades, were digitised and matched with revenue records and maps,” he said.
Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping was also used to ensure accuracy of land boundaries.
Boost to Mission Bwismuthi 2.0
This digitisation has also given new impetus to the BTR government’s Mission Bwismuthi 2.0. The scheme, launched earlier this year, gave land rights to 47,000 landless indigenous families, including about 9,000 small tea growers and rubber farmers.
In its first phase, 14 land related services were made available and so far more than 2.11 lakh applications have been settled.
New digital facility for the public
Through the new digital platform, farmers, landholders and common citizens can now get information related to their land through kiosks, mobile applications and web portals.
A revenue department official said, “Land disputes in our region have often become a cause of social tension. Digitization will ensure transparency and the chances of corruption, fraud and conflict will be reduced to a great extent.”
An example for other councils
Officials believe that the digitization of land records and e-office system in BTR has become an ideal example for other autonomous councils of the North-East.
Rajan Chaudhary
Courtesy : Hindi News