The transition to digital land records in Andhra Pradesh, intended to improve efficiency, is creating significant problems for tribal and Dalit farmers. While the state aims for digital governance, many farmers are losing their land rights due to errors in the digital system and lack of access.
Meebhoomi, the state’s digital land record portal, launched in 2015, has a flaw. It automatically shows the owner and cultivator as the same person. This change has erased tenant farmers and others who have worked the land for generations. For instance, in Gadabapalam village, tribal farmer Bonda Lakshman Rao found that his ancestral land is now registered under a non-resident Indian (NRI). The physical records never mentioned this NRI as either owner or cultivator.
The changes were based on a report by the Village Revenue Officer (VRO). This report claimed that eight tribal farmers had agreed to give 23.4 acres of land to the NRI for money. It also stated that the farmers did not want to include the remaining 12.6 acres, where their homes and church stand, in the agreement. However, the farmers deny this report and question how an NRI, who does not live in India, can be listed as the cultivator.
Digitalisation was meant to simplify things, but it has led to marginalisation. Farmers from tribal, Dalit, and other backward communities are losing their land rights. Flawed algorithms, incorrect data entry, and opaque systems are overwriting old land records. This also prevents farmers from accessing important government welfare schemes that depend on these digital records.
Government officials themselves are often unsure how to use the system or fix technical issues. Human errors, hidden by automation, along with limited digital access and oversight, are affecting the most vulnerable. These farmers have few options to correct these errors. While digitalisation makes records accessible to resourceful people, it remains out of reach for many tribal farmers who struggle with internet access and smartphones.
Andhra Pradesh was one of the first states to digitise its land records. The Meebhoomi portal was launched with the promise of hassle-free access to land records. However, the portal’s data is also used for welfare schemes like PM Kisan and Rythu Bharosa, and for agricultural subsidies. Even after almost ten years, corrections to these digital records are still ongoing.
Gadabapalam village is home to the Gadaba tribe, a particularly vulnerable group. The villagers have cultivated the land and built their homes and a church over the years. About three years ago, their way of life was disrupted when NRIs and middlemen began claiming ownership of the land.
The records show that the NRI was added as the owner and cultivator for 23.40 acres. This change was made online without proper checks. The village residents lack computer access and rely on manual applications to get information. Despite complaints filed with local officials, the farmers claim the process was flawed. Activists point out that key officials did not sign the report recommending the ownership change, yet it was approved.
In another village, Chatterjeepuram, farmers discovered their names had been removed from the digital records. They only found out because they had kept old printed copies of their land details from 2016. Land brokers have allegedly harassed these farmers, destroying crops, even after the farmers had filed a case against them.
A significant issue is the non-recognition of tenancy in the digital records. Old records acknowledged both owners and cultivators. However, when digitised, a section detailing cultivators was changed to automatically list the owner as the cultivator. This leaves tenant farmers, who are often referred to as ‘enjoyers’, in a precarious position.
A study found that over 90% of tenant farmers suffered crop losses but only a small percentage received disaster compensation. This highlights the link between flawed digital records and the denial of disaster relief, pushing farmers into debt.
Exclusion from digital land records has a ripple effect, impacting farmers’ eligibility for welfare schemes like Rythu Bharosa and PM Kisan. In one case, 12 Madiga farmers lost their eligibility for these schemes. They had received land in 1996 and possessed official documents, but their names were suddenly removed from the digital land records.
Officials acknowledge these issues, sometimes calling them ‘technical glitches’. However, experts suggest the problem is more complex, with different systems not communicating effectively. Sometimes, small errors, like a single misplaced character in a name, can lead to the rejection of beneficiaries. In one instance, a farmer missed out on benefits because his village’s land records were swapped online with another village’s records.
The National Informatics Centre (NIC), responsible for land digitalisation, outsources much of its work. Engineers who have resigned from the NIC mention that the agency often pays low wages, affecting the quality of software development. The technical details and data are often kept secret, even from government officials.
Experts propose process audits, where technologists regularly check the ground situation and ensure systems meet users’ needs. They stress the importance of observing how citizens interact with data entry operators. This approach could help rectify errors and prevent farmers from losing everything due to simple digital mistakes.
The state has tried to address some issues, like introducing cultivator cards for tenant farmers, but these are only valid for 11 months. The introduction of eKYC, which requires an active mobile number and Aadhaar verification, further excludes those without consistent phone access, especially in rural and tribal areas.
A study of the PM Kisan scheme revealed that over 4.17 lakh farmers in the state had not received any payment. Many rejections were due to bank issues and state actions, with Aadhaar-related problems also contributing. This shows the fragility of systems that rely on multiple parameters for welfare delivery.
In response to these problems, farmers in Ankapalle protested, demanding transparency in online records. They believe that while digital systems can be useful, they are not yet ready for full automation and should continue to be supported by paper-based records.