The Indian government plans to issue a 14-digit unique identification number to every plot of land in the country by March 2022 according to a Parliamentary report submitted by the Standing Committee on Rural Development to the Lok Sabha. It can be described as "the Aadhaar for land" and will be used to prevent land fraud, a Department of Land Resources official told The Hindu. The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude coordinates of the land plot, which in turn will be based on detailed surveys and geo-referenced cadastral maps, the report stated. The project falls under the new Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme and is already underway in ten states and will roll over to the entire country by mid-2022, the Department told the standing committee. This is the government's latest initiative as part of the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) that began in 2008. The government will further integrate land records with revenue court records, bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis, the report stated. To carry out this integration, as well as to pursue other new initiatives, the Department has sought an extension to DILRMP to 2023-24. The programme was due to end this week. Current status of DILMRP Under DILMPR, the government is already in the process of computerization of land records (CLR), map digitization, and the setting up of modern record rooms. Thus far, nearly 91% of all the land records have been computerized, 68% of cadastral maps…
