India’s digital IDs for land could exclude poor, indigenous communities

People walk through Pendajam village in Koraput, India. The land ID scheme is part of a push to digitalise India’s land records that began in 2008 and was scheduled to be completed by the end of March this year. It will now be extended to 2024, authorities said. — Reuters

Plans by the Indian government to assign digital identification numbers to plots of land could exclude rural and indigenous people who do not hold titles, and further marginalise those without Internet access, experts said.

The 14-digit Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) was launched in 10 states earlier this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022, authorities at the Department of Land Resources told parliament this week.