India's SVAMITVA Scheme Takes Center Stage at World Bank Land Conference 2025

A high-level Indian delegation is preparing to present the SVAMITVA Scheme and Gram Manchitra platform at the World Bank Land Conference 2025, occurring from May 5-8 in Washington D.C. According to the Panchayati Raj Ministry, the delegation will be led by Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, and will include key officials from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

This year's conference carries the theme 'Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action: Moving from Awareness to Action,' bringing together global policymakers, experts, and development partners to devise strategies for enhancing land tenure security and employing land administration for sustainable development. India's flagship SVAMITVA Scheme stands out for offering legal ownership of rural properties backed by drones and geospatial technology, having distributed over 24.4 million property cards across 1.6 lakh villages. This initiative unlocks an estimated USD 1.162 trillion in land value.

India's SVAMITVA Scheme will be spotlighted as a transformative approach to rural empowerment via precise geospatial data and platforms like Gram Manchitra. With applications in tax, infrastructure, and disaster preparedness, it exemplifies India's commitment to inclusive tech-driven governance. The conference will include high-level plenary sessions, regional workshops, and thematic exchanges aimed at reinforcing secure land access and modernizing land administration.

Sessions will focus on best practices in land tenure reform and the deployment of geospatial technologies for climate resilience. Vivek Bharadwaj, Secretary of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, will detail the SVAMITVA Scheme during a plenary session on land tenure and governance reform. Discussions will address rural property rights, women's empowerment, and dispute resolution within the framework of the UN's SDG Target 1.4.2.

Joint Secretary Alok Prem Nagar will oversee a technical session on leveraging the Gram Manchitra platform for village-level planning and disaster risk management. India's participation in the 2025 conference symbolizes a landmark in global rural land governance, following an International Workshop on Land Governance in March 2025, which saw interest in SVAMITVA's digital mapping approach.

(With inputs from agencies.)