| The World Bank’s Carl Hanlon visits development projects on his way to the poverty conference in Shanghai, China. Here's his report from India. Maddur, India, May 20, 2004—Subsistence farmer Mallash Mellegowda is thankful the days are gone when he had to pay bribes to a village accountant to get a copy of the title to his 2 acre plot of land. The process often took days and cost him more money than he could afford.  | | Farmers collecting land title records at Bhoomi office in Maddur, India |
Today Mellegowda, who grows lentils, has a copy of his land records after waiting in line for less than an hour at the local ‘Bhoomi’ office and paying 15 rupees (roughly 33 cents US). The average laborer in India earns about 60 rupees a day, roughly $1.32 cents US. He needs the documentation to secure a bank loan to buy seeds and fertilizer so he can feed his family in the season ahead. The Bhoomi project, the word means ‘land’ in Hindi, is run by the Government of Karnataka; the state is known as the ‘Information Technology Hub’ of India. Launched in the 1990’s, the project now covers almost 7 million farmers and includes 20 million computerized land records. The standardized records are linked online and available at 177 centers across the state of 50 million people.  | | Rajeev Chawla, e-commerce secretary, with old hand written land records |
The project was created to put an end to an outdated system that was controlled by often corrupt village accountants who were inaccessible and frequently demanded ‘speed money’ of thousands of rupees. Rajeev Chawla, State Secretary for e-governance, says 9,000 village accounts kept paper records, written in pencil, so they could change them at will. Chawla is the driving force behind the project. He says the system has given poor farmers the ability to establish credit-worthiness with banks, so they can get loans, and sell their property.
Meanwhile the village accountants are still on the state payroll, but now they spend their time using hand-held computers to visit farmers and collect crop data which is included with the land records. This information can help farmers collect crop insurance if they have a bad season; sugar cane, rice, lentils, cotton and silk are common crops grown in the region. Bhoomi offices also provide the latest information on crop prices, so farmers know how much they should charge for their produce.  | | Farmer takes his water buffalo past Internet kiosk in Sabhnur, India |
Another farmer who has just picked up a copy of his land title, Prakesh Breasead, says the Bhoomi office has made his life much easier. He is also seeking a bank loan and says the last time he tried to get the document, several years back, it took him weeks to track down the village accountant and he paid hundreds of rupees in bribes. When asked what he thinks of the Bhoomi project he says: “This is good, this is a correct system.”
India’s archaic land practices have been blamed for stifling the country’s growth. A recent study conducted for the Indian government, by consulting firm McKinsey Global Institute said distortions in India’s land markets are a major barrier to economic expansion. It estimated up to 90 percent of land parcels in India are subject to ownership disputes and the problem accounts for 1.3 percent in lost growth per year in Gross Domestic Product. Bhoomi is starting to change things in Karnataka and now other states are computerizing their land records and implementing similar projects, although it is too early to determine whether they will be successful. And in Karnataka the next generation of the Bhoomi system is already being launched. A pilot project of 17 privately run internet kiosks has been set up to offer expanded services. In addition to obtaining land records at these private sights, which have wireless connections to the government Bhoomi offices, citizens can also get birth and death certificates and apply for government jobs. Some of the kiosks are even experimenting with telemedicine, connecting patients with doctors by videoconference for a virtual diagnosis. Hindu Times reporter Vishwanath Kularni, who covers the technology boom in nearby Bangalore, where many US call centers are located, believes the Bhoomi project holds potential as a model for other developing countries. He says “It’s quite possible it could be replicated globally, it just depends on the kind of land rules and regulations other countries have.” Rajeev Chawla will have the opportunity to tell the story of Bhoomi’s success to a global audience when he travels to the Shanghai Conference on poverty reduction, which gets underway May 25th and is sponsored by the Bank. Bhoomi is one of more than 100 case studies being examined by developing countries, donor nations, non-government groups and development experts looking for ways to boost results in the fight against poverty. Chawla is convinced the Bhoomi project has given Indian farmers the security of owning their land while cutting corruption – one of the major barriers to development around the world. Related Links:
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