Most of the banking functions and transactions have become digital now. Due to this change, people are getting a peace of mind. Earlier, one had to travel to far away places to get the payment or had to wait for his turn in the banks. In government offices, a large number of staff were deployed to manage the files and a lot of time was lost in searching the files. The ghost of red tape used to be hidden in the files itself. This was the major reason behind getting the things delayed. Gradually everything became digital and online. In the Covid pandemic time, there was no other solution other than going digital. Work from home also made it necessary for everyone to be online. In the coming few years, everything related to life will become digital and there is no doubt about it.
Under the Digital India scheme, linking of land databases with revenue court records, bank records and Aadhaar is being considered. However, the decision on whether to link everything with Aadhaar will be voluntary and it will not be mandatory. The government wants to issue a 14-digit identification number on every plot of the country. According to the Parliamentary Standing Committee report, it will later integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis.
According to the Department of Land Resources, the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme was initially launched in ten states, which can be implemented across the country in the coming times. This is the next phase of Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme. Under the scheme, a modern land record room is to be set up in each district at a cost of Rs 50 lakh each. In addition, Rs 270 crore will be spent on integration of land records with the Revenue Court Management System. Later the land records database will be linked with the banks.
With ULPIN, land disputes will be resolved faster. This will prevent land frauds, especially in villages where land records are very old or disputed. The Ministry of Rural Development has approved the ‘consent-based’ linkage scheme. This scheme of the central government was first made public in 2014. The program aims to digitize India’s old paper-based land records and land registration system. There are estimated to be 30.16 crore land records in India. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Tripura, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh have already started pilot projects to link Aadhaar with land records.
The records of the Revenue Department in Haryana have come on digital mode. For this, 18,500 documents were scanned and uploaded on the NIC portal. On Sunday, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated modern revenue record rooms of all 22 districts in the state through a virtual meeting. Now these documents will be in front of the eyes at a click of the mouse. Digital labs have been set up for this purpose in every district in Haryana. Records of all departments including irrigation, urban and local bodies, agriculture and farmers welfare, development and panchayat, police and education will also be linked with the lab.
“Red tape is an idiom that refers to excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making. It is usually applied to governments, corporations, and other large organizations.
One definition is the “collection or sequence of forms and procedures required to gain bureaucratic approval for something, especially when oppressively complex and time-consuming”. Another definition is the “bureaucratic practice of hair splitting or foot dragging, blamed by its practitioners on the system that forces them to follow prescribed procedures to the letter”.
Red tape generally includes filling out paperwork, obtaining licenses, having multiple people or committees approve a decision and various low-level rules that make conducting one’s affairs slower, more difficult, or both. Red tape can also include “filing and certification requirements, reporting, investigation, inspection and enforcement practices, and procedures” “…Unquote.
We, at India, at some stage or the other must have experienced the red tapism – And largely in every corner of the government departments and for some extent even in private sector as well we must have seen it is happening today also! No matter how many governments change – no matter how many years passed to our freedom but our struggle is continuing. A struggle to get bureaucratic approvals, struggle to get certificates- sometimes may be birth certificate or even for death certificates as well!….everyone in the system is asking for…’Mujhe kya milega!”
Have you ever gone behind the real reason of red tapism and how have it started in INDIA! Money is not the only reason behind it – Jealousy, inefficiencies, lethargic attitude, unprofessional-ism, character building ( rather non-building), values , caste n creed, cultural imbalance…any many more likely reasons. But bottom line is it hurts us – it slows down our growth and image in world map!
by Narvijay Yadav. The author is a freelance writer.