Svamitva Property Cards: Rural Assets for Loans & Benefits

The Svamitva cards, which establish an individual's ownership of rural property through the Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (Svamitva) initiative, have the potential to be utilized as valuable financial assets for obtaining loans and various benefits.This potential use was deliberated upon during a meeting organized by the Bankers Institute of Rural Development in Lucknow. The discussion revolved around whether the Svamitva cards should be accepted by states and Union Territories as a means of offering financial security to rural residents. The meeting witnessed insights from experts and practitioners, including officials from state-level bankers committees, state governments, registration departments, banks, and the Reserve Bank of India. The meeting was chaired by Joint Secretary of Panchayati Raj, Alok Prem Nagar, and attended by Deputy Secretary Arun Mishra.The deliberations aimed to emphasize the significance of property cards as conclusive evidence of ownership, the potential for transferring ownership, valuation of inhabited land, the feasibility of using the cards as collateral for bank financing, and the requirements for registration.An official mentioned that the discussions primarily focused on registration provisions for property cards. The panelists comprised representatives from banks such as Indian Bank, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, as well as regional banks like Pratham UP Gramin Bank, UP State Cooperative Bank, and Baroda UP Gramin Bank.Additional participants included Commissioner Survey of Karnataka, Manjunathan; Commissioners of Revenue of Karnataka, PS Kumar; Commissioner of SSLR, Gujarat, MA Pandya; Joint Commissioners of Land Records, MP, Akhilesh Jain; and Commissioner of Revenue, Uttarakhand, Chandresh Kumar.