Bhoomi, a governance success

For decades, access to land records was one of rural India’s most persistent governance failures. Karnataka’s Bhoomi project, now completing 25 years, offers an instructive counterpoint showing how administrative reform can reshape the relationship between governance and the people.

Until the late 1990s, land administration in Karnataka relied almost entirely on handwritten records maintained by village accountants. Farmers seeking a Record of Rights, Tenancy, and Crops (RTC) often had to repeatedly visit revenue offices, navigate complex procedures, and rely on intermediaries. Errors in records were common, and corrections took months. In an agrarian State where land disputes routinely spilt into civil courts, the costs of administrative inefficiency were borne disproportionately by small and marginal farmers.

Launched in 2000, Bhoomi was a bold departure from this legacy. Its immediate goal was simple: computerise land records and make them accessible. Its greater ambition was to replace discretion with rules, delay with timelines, and opacity with transparency. The legal recognition of computerised RTCs and the abolition of handwritten records marked a historic shift. Over the last 25 years, more than 39.8 crore RTCs have been issued, fundamentally altering how land records are accessed across the State.

Many revenue officials were initially hesitant to abandon familiar manual systems. Karnataka responded with large-scale capacity building, training nearly 9,000 village accountants, 8,000 revenue inspectors, and 1,000 computer operators. The establishment of 204 Bhoomi Kendras at the taluk level enabled the digitisation of nearly 2.5 crore land records covering about 3.5 crore farmers. What followed was not merely digitisation, but a cultural shift within the administration.

Initially, the Bhoomi project in Karnataka began as a modest effort to computerise only manual RTCs. But today, it functions as a comprehensive digital ecosystem that integrates land and revenue administration with multiple welfare services. The integration of Bhoomi with the Kaveri registration system changed the face of land registration in Karnataka. By linking registration with land records, the State sharply reduced fraudulent transactions and eliminated middlemen. Mutation, once a source of endless delay, became automatic and transparent. Survey and boundary disputes, another chronic problem, were addressed through the introduction of the Mojini (Survey) software in 2007. For the first time, land measurement and survey processes were brought under a digital, time-bound framework. The 11E Sketch, a pre-conversion map introduced by Karnataka, further improved accuracy in land boundaries and area measurement. The result has been a visible reduction in land-related disputes.

Bhoomi’s evolution also reflects Karnataka’s broader approach to governance: using administrative reform to strengthen welfare delivery. Since 2016, crop compensation has been credited directly to farmers’ bank accounts, bypassing intermediaries. During the 2018 loan waiver programme, Bhoomi data enabled the waiver of loans for nearly 20 lakh farmers. The integration with PM-Kisan, the Agriculture Department’s FRUITS platform, and Aadhaar seeding of over 2.17 crore farmer accounts has improved targeting and reduced leakages. By ensuring accurate and up-to-date records, Bhoomi has helped convert entitlement on paper into benefits on the ground.

Perhaps Bhoomi’s most significant achievement is not technological but experiential. Farmers no longer have to travel from village to taluk and taluk to district offices for routine services. The scope for discretionary abuse has narrowed. The relationship between citizens and the revenue administration has become more predictable. In a State where land remains emotionally and economically central, this shift has strengthened trust in public institutions.

As Karnataka reflects on Bhoomi at 25, the project offers lessons for other States rushing to digitise land records. Technology alone does not deliver reform. Bhoomi worked because it was embedded in administrative restructuring, legal change, and continuous institutional learning. It shows that digital governance succeeds when it is incremental, inclusive, and grounded in local realities.

Dr. Kumara IAS is Deputy Commissioner, Mandya District