President Droupadi Murmu has said that acceleration of rural development is essential for the overall development of the country. She said, for the development of rural areas, modernization of land records is a basic requirement as the livelihood of most of the rural population is dependent on land resources. She stated this while presenting the Bhoomi Samman 2023 at a function in New Delhi today.

The awards were given to nine State Secretaries and 68 District Collectors along with their teams who have excelled in achieving saturation of the core components of Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme. The President said, a comprehensive integrated land management system is of utmost importance for the overall development of rural areas.
 
Highlighting that digitization increases transparency, President Murmu said digitization of land records and its linkages with various government departments will help in proper implementation of welfare schemes. She added that it will also be of great help in case of loss of documents due to calamities including flood and fire.

The President expressed happiness to note that under the Digital India Land Information Management System, a Unique Land Parcel Identification Number is being provided which could be useful like Aadhaar Card. She stated that this number will help in making proper use of the lands as well as forming and implementing new welfare schemes.  The President also said that access to land-related information in a free and convenient manner will have many benefits including resolving disputes related to ownership and use of land. She stated that a large population of the country is involved in disputes related to land and a lot of time of the administration and the judiciary is consumed in these matters.