A land record in Kashmir is rarely just a document. 

Behind a name in a Jamabandi may lie an inheritance, a family dispute, a division of ancestral property or a boundary remembered differently by two neighbouring households. 

A mistake in such a record can follow a family for years, complicating a sale, delaying an inheritance and drawing people into litigation. 

Digitising these documents is therefore a major administrative reform, but the government must get one thing right before declaring the exercise complete: the accuracy of the information being transferred to the screen.

The Revenue Minister’s recent directions to expedite digitisation and verification of land records in Jammu and Kashmir have generated hope among government employees and the public. His emphasis on authenticity, accuracy and transparency, alongside plans to strengthen grassroots administration, revive the Settlement Wing and preserve historical documents, signals an important change in the department’s priorities.

There is, however, a missing voice in this reform agenda. 

The Patwari, who knows the land, the village and the history behind its records, should have a direct role in deciding how digitised records are verified and corrected.

Technology can make a document easier to access, but it cannot establish whether the information inside it is correct. 

Scanning an old Jamabandi and uploading it to a digital platform may preserve its contents, but it can also reproduce mistakes that have survived for generations. 

An incorrect entry does not acquire legal or historical authenticity simply because it appears on a computer screen.

This difference is especially important in Kashmir, where land ownership records often draw on documents prepared during different settlement........

© Kashmir Observer