By Mohammad Amin Mir

In Chanderhama, a sleepy village in Baramulla district, a group of farmers huddled under a walnut tree while a patwari stood before them with a smartphone. He zoomed in on a plot of land using Google Maps and asked an elderly man, “Is this yours?”

The man nodded and pointed toward a line of trees. “My father planted those in the seventies,” he said.

The patwari clicked a photo, scanned an old deed using Google Lens, and marked the spot with GPS.

It was a simple exchange, yet one that marked a significant change in how Kashmiri villages are beginning to define ownership, possession, and memory—digitally.

For generations, land in rural Kashmir has lived in fragile forms: paper records, oral agreements, and government maps drawn decades ago.

The system, rooted in obsolete frameworks, often left villagers confused and courts overwhelmed.

With records like jamabandis barely updated and many partitions or family transfers undocumented, even the simplest land transaction could turn into a long-drawn conflict.

In this setting, the idea of a digital settlement might seem like a leap. But here, in villages like Chanderhama, it is starting to feel possible.

The approach is neither expensive nor tech-heavy. There are no drones flying overhead or GIS vans parked in fields. Instead, the process leans on free and familiar tools: Google Maps, smartphone cameras, GPS, and mobile apps.

Patwaris, long associated with bureaucratic delay, are now walking across fields, tapping coordinates,........

© Kashmir Observer