Why is it in the News?

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari revealed in a recent statement to the Rajya Sabha that the Bhoomi Rashi portal is instrumental in expediting the development of highway infrastructure in India.

About the Bhoomi Rashi Portal:

• The acquisition of land was done manually before the year 2018. The data files were moved physically, leading to some limitations. This included delays in issuing notices, errors in land details, etc.
• To overcome the issues, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways came up with a system.
  • It is known as “Bhoomi Rashi”.
•  The portal came into force on 1st April 2018
• The system is digital and automates the whole land acquisition (LA) process.
• It made and still makes the LA process more transparent and error-free.
• The portal processes the notices at every stage on a real-time basis.

Key Objectives:

• Acceleration of Land Acquisition: The primary goal is to facilitate a quicker and more efficient land acquisition process for National Highways.
• Centralized Processing: Acting as a singular online platform, it consolidates the processing of land acquisition notifications, contributing to the swift development of highway infrastructure projects.
• Transparency and Accountability: Ensures transparency and accountability throughout the land acquisition process.
• Direct Benefit Transfer: Facilitates the electronic transfer of benefits directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries involved in the land acquisition.

Salient Features:

• Bilingual application with Hindi and English for easy usability
• Preparation of interface for adding basic details of the project, including land acquisition sanction details
• Preparation of interface for Land Acquisition locations. villages
• Preparation of Interface for Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) details. CALA is a revenue functionary of the State Government appointed for each NH Project.
• Interface for generating land acquisition notification
• Interface for land Details
• Interface for generation of notification: organisational email IDS for all those involved in the process flow to ensure smooth e-office management
• Interface for Objections and processing
• Interface for compensation determination and finalisation
• Interface for land owners and affected parties
• Interface for reports generation

The portal is seamlessly integrated with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) of the Ministry of Finance, ensuring real-time deposit of compensation into the accounts of affected/interested individuals.

What is Land Acquisition?

• Land acquisition is the governmental process, whether at the state or union level, through which private land is procured for infrastructure development, urbanization, or industrialization.
• In exchange, the government provides appropriate compensation to the landowner based on market value and assumes responsibility for the rehabilitation and resettlement of those affected by the land acquisition.