BANGALORE: For a change, a government department has received international recognition instead of being at the receiving end of the general criticism of inefficiency, bungling and corruption. The sense of happiness is more so when the department concerned is that of Revenue.

It is rather surprising that not many have come forward to claim credit, except, and rightly perhaps, former Revenue Minister B. Somashekar, and the reaction in government circles has been subdued. The award has been "rubbished" by Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce.

`Innovative project'

The Revenue Department has been selected for the prestigious United Nations Public Service Award for "Good governance and innovative projects in rural and urban areas" for its "Bhoomi Project" for computerisation of land records. The department is among the 11 entities from as many countries chosen for this year's U.N. Public Service awards. According to U.N. Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Antonio Ocamp, each award-winning institution has pioneered ways to make services more efficient and accessible to all members of society.

The achievement of the State's Revenue Department is all the more creditable as it had to compete with 145 projects.

Hostile reaction

The hostile reaction of Mr. Ramesh has stunned many in the State.

He is reported to have said, "Projects like Bhoomi are garbage in and garbage out. Unless your land records are up-to-date and surveys too, what is the point in computerising outdated land records?"

The Union Minister has his point, but that should not be to belittle the achievement of the government.

He knows the State too well as he has served as Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board when S.M. Krishna was Chief Minister. Moreover, he hails from the coffee-growing Chikmagalur district, where boundaries of some of the coffee estates are on the move, though the land records written in the old Kannada script by unknown "shanbogues" (village officers) are not supportive. He has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh, though, at one time, his name was high on the list of those doing the rounds for election from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Principal Secretary for Revenue S.M. Jaamdar, and not any of the Bharatiya Janata Party or Janata Dal (Secular) Ministers, has spoken out against Mr. Ramesh, calling his remarks demeaning.

Credit

As talk of computerisation and information technology was at its loudest in the State when Mr. Krishna was heading the Government, it is only naturally for some attribute to his government the U.N. recognition.

There are, no doubt, a few who give the credit to Home Minister, M.P. Prakash, as he was Revenue Minister from May 2004 to August 2005, and even Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar.

First steps

Official sources agree that the first steps towards computerisation were taken up when Mr. Somashekar was Revenue Minister in the J.H. Patel government in 1999. Computerisation of the yellowing and age-worn land records was taken up in Chitradurga and Gulbarga districts. It has also to be acknowledged that at that time, the Centre released Rs. 2.9 crore to computerise land records in 100 taluks of the State.

It is noteworthy that the S.M. Krishna government found fault with the computerisation programme taken up by the previous administration, and ordered an inquiry into purchase of computers.

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