COMPUTERISATION OF LAND RECORDS IN PAKISTAN

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COMPUTERISATION OF LAND RECORDS IN PAKISTAN

• Research paper written by Muhammad Usman Qazi
  Presented by S.M. Raza (PAKISTAN)

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Information Management in Pakistan

• INITIATIVE
• The Government of Pakistan embarked upon a number
  of initiatives around the turn of the century to
  introduce computerization in official business.
• The most significant initiative is the
  establishment of National Database Registration
  Authority (NADRA)

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National Database Registration Authority

• INITIATIVE
• NADRA has been mandated to gather computerize all
  the demographic data about citizens using ICT
  based solutions.
• NADRA has been successful in issuing more than 50
  Million computerized national identity cards to
  Pakistani adults.

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E-Government Directorate

• INITIATIVE
• With the view to automate the Governments
  internal communication process, Government of
  Pakistan established an E-Government Directorate
  in 2002.
• Most of the computerization initiatives in
  Pakistan have been designed more for recording,
  controlling and accounting for information rather
  than sharing with people.

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Information Management The Case of Land Records

• History
• The information systems in Pakistans public
  sector are predominantly paper based and
  elaborate filing system is in place from British
  colonial system.
• Land enjoys a significant place among the assets
  owned by the people in both urban and rural
  context in Pakistan.

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Information Management The Case of Land
Records. Cont

• History
• There exist a complex and elaborate system of
  land record management, basically founded by Sher
  Shah Suri (1472-1545 AD) this system was taken to
  scale by the following Mughals and British
  colonial powers.
• At present all over Pakistan Board of Revenue
  (BOR) is responsible to maintain land records and
  in the field a junior officer called Patwari /
  Tape-Dar is the sole custodian of data.

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Information Management The Case of Land
Records. Cont

• Issues
• Pakistans land record system is antiquated and
  raises several concerns including Obsolete and
  Opaque system of land revenue management.
• There have been disputes over rights and delays
  in courts as lack of credible information
  generates considerable delays in resolving
  pending cases in courts.

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Introduction of ICT in Land Records Management

• Initiative
• Land Record Management Information System Program
  (LRMISP), a project housed in BOR.
• A number of previous attempts had been made since
  1980s to computerize the land records but they
  all failed because of number of technological and
  political reasons
• The donor agencies primarily World Bank found it
  useful to reduce the formal and informal
  transaction making the land assets more
  efficiently integrated into the market.

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Land Record Management Information System Program

• Initiative
• The manually recorded data was entered into the
  computers in close collaboration with the
  Patwaris and they were trained in operating the
  system as an integral part of project design.
• After data input and validation, the provincial
  Government through legislation granted legal
  status to the fards produced by the system and
  then abolished the practice of issuance o manual
  fards in the plot area.

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Land Record Management Information System Program

• Challenges and opportunities
• The computerization as a stand alone initiative
  is not going to provide even the perception of
  assets security.
• A procedural and systematic reform is necessary
  to facilitate the computerization to take root.
• The computerization of records system involves
  large financial costs in terms of procurement of
  hardware, software, human resources as training
  requirements

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Land Record Management Information System Program

• Challenges and opportunities
• With expansion of communication infrastructure,
  increased awareness more people can access
  computerized information.
• Advancement in the field of e-security is making
  more robust options, available to ensure the
  accountability and transparency of citizens
  records management process.

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Land Record Management Information System Program

• Conclusion
• A political will behind the concept of empowering
  people through informing them is a necessary
  pre-condition for introduce ICT based systems.
• A gradual and complete transformation of the
  procedures, protocols and environment of the
  related public sector departments will be needed
  in parallel to automation exercise to ensure the
  social change does not lag too far behind the
  technological change.

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THANKS