New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday distributed around 65 lakh Svamitva property cards, and said it will bolster economic activities and help in poverty alleviation.
He also interacted with some beneficiaries through video conferencing, and said the scheme will help people in getting loans and benefits of government schemes.
These property cards are being distributed to beneficiaries across more than 50,000 villages in 10 states — Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and two Union Territories off Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh.
“Around 2.24 crore beneficiaries in villages will now have Svamitva property cards after 65 lakh cards are distributed today,” the prime minister said.
“Property rights is a major challenge across the world. Years ago, the United Nations had held a study, which revealed people did not have legal documents for property rights in several countries. The UN has said property rights are important for poverty alleviation,” he said.
The prime minister said an eminent economist had opined that property in villages is a “dead capital” because people cannot do anything with it, and it can’t help increase their income.
“India was also impacted by this challenge. People in villages have property worth lakhs of crores, but they did not have papers for it. There were disputes, properties were snatched, and even banks did not provide loans over it,” he said.
“Previous governments should have taken steps to do something about it but nothing much was done,” he said.
Modi said Dalits, backward classes and tribals were the worst affected by this.
“After getting legal property rights, lakhs of people have taken loan. They have used this money to start their businesses. Many of these are farmers, for whom this property cards is a guarantee to financial security,” he said.
He also said Svamitva and Bhu-Adhaar will become the foundation of development of villages.
Union Minister of Panchayati Raj Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj S P Singh Baghel and Ministry of Panchayati Raj Secretary Vivek Bharadwaj were also present at the event.
It was attended virtually by several chief ministers, Union ministers and state ministers.
Events are also being organised in over 230 districts for physical distribution of property cards. It is expected that around 13 Union ministers will physically join from designated locations from across the country, to oversee regional distribution ceremonies of property cards.
