In order to make it easy for the farmers as well as the surveyors in the land records department, the government has launched a mobile app named Mojini.
Published May 14, 2025 | 1:23 PM ⚊ Updated May 14, 2025 | 1:23 PM
A farmer in his farmland. (iStock)
Synopsis: The implementation of the new programme, Nanna Bhoomi, by the Karnataka government has fast-tracked the podi allotment for its residents, under the Podi Mukta Grama Abhiyan.
The Karnataka government introduced Podi Mukta Grama Abhiyan in 2015 to ensure transparency and provide absolute land ownership to farmers across the state.
Podi is the division of a survey number into smaller, more detailed sub-survey numbers; dividing a larger land parcel into smaller and identifiable portions for better management and record-keeping, for the government and the land owners.
However, the process was continuing at a snail’s pace until a new initiative was launched by the state government in 2024 to expedite it. Following the implementation of the new programme, Nanna Bhoomi, people expressed satisfaction, saying that they have been allotted Record of Rights, Tenancy, and Crops (RTCs).
Whenever any programmes are organised by the State Department of Revenue, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah repeatedly emphasises the need for making podi mukta grama (podi-free villages).
During an event on 10 April 2025 in Bengaluru, he said, “Surveyors must rectify errors in the record of rights, tenancy and crops issued to farmers during a survey. We must make it easy for farmers so that they can till their land and engage in agriculture peacefully.”
In December 2023, six months after the Congress assumed power in Karnataka, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had said that the state government would fast-track the process.
According to Survey and Land Records Commissioner J Manjunath, the initiative was launched by Siddaramaiah during his first term as the chief minister when several farmers approached him requesting absolute ownership of their land.
He said the chief minister intended to make land-related issues more transparent since farmers complained of government employees’ lethargy in helping them.
According to Karnataka Revenue Commissioner P Sunil Kumar, podi is done for two types of land, government-allocated land and ancestral properties.
“While podi done for land granted to farmers by the government is called ‘Darkasta Podi’, the podi for ancestral land granted is called ‘Podi’.
Explaining the benefits for farmers and owners of the land, Sunil said, “It is very simple; a farmer or an owner will have a separate sketch as well as an individual survey number for their piece of land. It will reflect on the records of the related departments.”
“It does help us in tax and revenue collection, but the tax amount is meagre in rural areas when compared to urban areas. ‘Podi Mukta Grama initiative is purely done in the interest of farmers so that they would not be cheated by the real estate agents or their kin by excluding their names from the original document,” he added.
Sunil highlighted that after the launch of ‘Nanna Bhoomi’, the government has been able to process Darkasta Podi in over 12,230 cases.
“The programme named ‘Nanna Bhoomi’, which translates to My land, was launched in December 2024. Earlier, farmers could not sell the government-allocated land to others. However, after the introduction of this programme, they can sell it to others. Now, they have proper RTCs given to them.”
“Earlier, people had to pay a bribe to the officials present in the village to do podi. Now, they don’t have to because every other document and sketches are uploaded in the electronic system. The only job of the officials is to visit the sites, verify the details of the owner and provide them with their rights to the land. The number of Darkasta Podi has increased in just a few months after the introduction of the Nanna Bhoomi programme. Earlier, in three years, Darkasta Podi was done for only 5,813 land parcels, but the numbers have crossed 12,230 after the new initiative,” he added.
When asked whether the issue of bribes in government offices was completely solved, Sunil said, “Every programme will definitely take time to have a measurable impact. There are one or two cases where a bribe might have been given and taken. However, we should not blame it completely on the department. Even common people have a share in this issue. Whenever they don’t have proper documents to furnish, they try to bribe the officials so that the process might get completed quickly.”
In order to make it easy for the farmers as well as the surveyors in the land records department, the government has launched a mobile app named Mojini.
Commissioner Manjunath said, “People can go directly to this app and apply for the surveyor’s visit. It is done on a first-come come first-served basis. The surveyor will coordinate with the owner of that land who applied first, to visit and survey the land in their presence. The surveyor has to submit photos, a map and sketches. After completion of the survey, the officer will coordinate with the next person.”
“This way there is transparency, faster movement of applications, completion of work and department officials can track the progress of every application,” he said.
Chikka Hanumanthaiah (39), a farmer in Doddaballapur, had been visiting office after office for ten years, but his land was surveyed and podi was done in a very short time under the new initiative.
“This land was granted by the government to my grandfather, but no podi was done. When you don’t have an individual podi completed, there can be cases of Akrama Sakrama (regularisation) as there are multiple owners for the ten-acre land under the same survey number. I was running from pillar to post to get a podi for my land for almost ten years. This year, Darkasta Podi was done for my land. I did not pay a bribe or any extra money for this work; the officials visited us along with the surveyor, and the podi was completed.”
Shankarappa, another farmer who got individual ownership of his piece of land, said: “For a farmer like me, not having podi for our share of land is a headache. This is my livelihood. This year, the podi process was completed for my land. There were camps in our village and several people benefited from them,” he said.
“Now I can use the land for agriculture or sell it if I want. There is a provision to sell our land, even though it is government-granted and Darkasta podi,” he added.
Khwaja Huli is a farmer in Ballari whose Darkasta Podi is in progress. He said, “I, along with other farmers, have been fighting for obtaining podi. Recently, the officials visited our land in Darur village, and now the work is in progress. It was a government-granted land. A few other families also stay here. Now, we will have individual ownership, and it is helpful for our future generation. There will be no fights or legal issues with our neighbours.”
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
