WASHINGTON — A senior Indian delegation will present its groundbreaking SVAMITVA Scheme and Gram Manchitra platform at the 2025 World Bank Land Conference in Washington, D.C., spotlighting the country’s digital innovations in rural land governance and climate-responsive planning.
The conference, scheduled from May 5 to 8 at the World Bank Headquarters, brings together global policymakers, experts, and development partners under the theme: “Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action: Moving from Awareness to Action.”
Secretary of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Vivek Bharadwaj, is leading India’s delegation which includes Joint Secretary Alok Prem Nagar, Additional Surveyor General of India Shailesh Kumar Sinha, and senior officials from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
India’s flagship SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) Scheme, launched to provide legal ownership of rural properties through drone and geospatial technology, will be featured in two high-profile sessions. The program has issued property cards to more than 24.4 million households across 160,000 villages, mapping over 100 million property parcels and unlocking an estimated $1.162 trillion in land value.
“This initiative is a prime example of how technology can drive inclusive rural empowerment,” said Bharadwaj, who will represent India in a plenary session on land tenure and governance reform. The session will explore how SVAMITVA contributes to securing property rights, women’s empowerment, and dispute resolution, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goal Target 1.4.2 on land tenure security.
Meanwhile, Joint Secretary Nagar will lead a technical session showcasing Gram Manchitra, a village-level planning platform leveraging SVAMITVA’s spatial data. The platform supports disaster mitigation, solar site selection, and infrastructure development, emphasizing India’s climate-aligned land governance.
The World Bank Land Conference agenda includes plenaries, regional workshops, thematic exchanges, and an innovation expo, all aimed at modernizing land administration systems, securing tenure rights, and promoting the use of cutting-edge geospatial technologies for climate adaptation.
India’s growing global leadership in digital land reforms has drawn international attention. In March, the country hosted an international workshop on land governance with participants from 22 countries, many expressing interest in collaborating on SVAMITVA’s scalable model.
The 2025 conference is expected to accelerate global conversations on land tenure, resilience, and technology-driven solutions for sustainable development, with India positioned as a key contributor.
