Major 'glitches' in Gujarat's online land record system: Thousands of farmers complain

Even as the Gujarat government officially unveiled the integrated online revenue applications (iORA) 2.0 system, claimed to be the first of its kind in the country, which brings nineteen services under the revenue department online, facts have come to light it is rocked by major glitches.
Operational since 2017, when the state government came up with GPS-integrated maps in order to identify land titles, a right to information (RTI) plea suggests, farmers are facing major hurdles when they seek any records of their land titles, needed in order to make any major real estate deals in the highly industrialised state.
Saleem Patel of the Prakruti Suraksha Mandal, an environmental NGO in Ankaleshwar, has found that ever since the GSP-integrated maps were floated in 2017, in Bharuch district of South Gujarat alone, farmers have made as many as 5,113 complaints about wrong entries.
“The office of the District Inspector Land Records (DILR), Bharuch, is having tough time correcting the wrong entries”, said Patel on the basis of the RTI reply which he has received. “So far, a whopping 2,650 complaints remain to be examined, which means that only 48% of the applications have been corrected”, he added.
According to Patel, the situation is particularly bad in Hansot taluka of the district, where 550 complaints have been made, and of these just 115 have been corrected, while 80% remain to be examined.
Patel, who visited the Bharuch district revenue office to ascertain what the problem was, says, officials have been found to be evading to correct the records, even go on leave, because they are angry over the manner in which the GPS system has been used to create new land records.
“The problem has arisen because the entire job of mapping all the land records was given to a private agency, which did its work without any on-the-spot verification”, Patel said, adding, “Even farmers’ consent was not taken. The officials grudge is, why they should bear the burden of a private agency’s mistakes."

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When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

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In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

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PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

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Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

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A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.

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