‘With Land Stack project, all info about a piece of land will be available on a single click’

What is the reason for using the word Stack?
It is a stack of information. Some of the data is textual, but the map is spatial. It is related to a particular space. If you want to put different types of data, it has to necessarily sit in a spatial database called the Geographical Information System. The leading example is PM-Gati Shakti. The necessary layers of land and related activities for a project implementing authority were given to build a road. It is a one-stop solution to know all possible impediments to construct a road project. Agri stack is one such example. It has a focus on land and farmers. In the land stack, someone who is dealing with a land, should not get cheated. All the information available at different places is now being collated at one place.

What are the aims and benefits?
One need not run to different websites. A person may not even know how many things have to be verified before purchase or leasing of property. Like, a person buying a flat on the ninth floor, may not even know that the building has a permission for six floors only. This information will be available at one click. In other words, no one dealing with the land will now take the decision unknowingly. The principle is Caveat Emptor, that is buyer beware. You are supposed to be verifying everything before purchasing anything. It has to be an informed decision and for that information has to be available. This project will ensure that the citizens take informed decisions. This project aims to ensure that no citizen is cheated for the lack of information.

Where are you running the pilots for the project?
We are running it in Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh. Normally, we go to two totally different locations. The pilot project will run for six months and around three-and-a-half months is over. Once it is over, it will be rolled out in the country. As of now, building permission and reservation are not available yet. For Tamil Nadu, three layers are ready while for Chandigarh, two layers are ready. But they will catch up. We are not digitising anything. It is already available. We are simply putting everything together. If everything is geo-referenced, it will be easier to put layers on each other.

What are the base layers which will be available in the pilot project?
Before December-end, the pilot project will be up and ready with five base layers. Record of rights, map, registration, development plan or master plan and building permissions are core five layers. There are administrative layers as well, but we are currently focusing on these five.

What is happening at the international level regarding similar projects?
Nearly 50 countries are using it. Leaders are countries like Latvia, Singapore, South Korea. Some countries have reached upto 30 layers of information. The best international practice is focused extraction of information for one particular layer. We, too, are planning to provide five base layers and then ask what information the citizen needs. This is to avoid unnecessary information which will lead to diversion of attention.

Will there be collaboration with other ministries and departments?
Certainly, the project needs collaboration. There are two types: centralised and federated. In the first, data is uploaded from each department and it is updated. In the second, data is with respective departments and it gets updated and fetched real time. In big and complex countries (like India), the federated system is used as it answers various issues of data ownership, safety and updation.

Will you be charging for the data?
It depends on current regulations set up by states based on respective departments. The policies of the departments concerned will be implemented.

Are there privacy issues?
This is a perennial question. First of all, these are public documents which we are putting here. A 1793 Fort William regulation (introduction of Revenue System) started with an intention to make transactions of immovable property between two individuals public, to know the person whom  he should  discuss to buy the property. On a positive note, despite these being public documents, people have to take a lot of effort to collate the information to avoid infringing on privacy. In some countries, the documents are made available but the owner comes to know who is looking for it. So each country is dealing with this issue in a different manner. But legally speaking, these are public documents.

How were you chosen for this responsibility?
In Maharashtra, the government gave me an opportunity to work on all three verticals which are, revenue department, registration and settlement commissionerate. It’s a rare opportunity and it helps knowing the intricacies. I was the settlement commissioner when the pilot project of drone survey of villages was conducted in Maharashtra.