New Delhi: Bihar government formed an Artificial Intelligence committee for its Revenue and Land Reforms department to make the process quicker and more transparent. It’s the first state in the country to set up such a committee.
The committee has a mandate to study the management of land records and the ongoing land survey, and to use modern technology for it.
“A five-member Artificial Intelligence Committee has been constituted to study the applications of modern technology and artificial intelligence in the daily operations, land records management, survey activities, and delivery of citizen services of the Department of Revenue and Land Reforms, Government of Bihar, and to effectively implement the same,” reads the order.
The five members of the committee include Jai Singh, secretary of the revenue and land reform department, Aajiv Vatsraj, additional secretary, Mona Jha, deputy director, Bihar survey office, Nawazish Akhtar, special work officer, and Aanand Shankar, IT manager at the land department.
“The committee shall also be able to invite technical experts to its deliberations as deemed necessary,” reads the government order. The committee will come into effect once the order is passed by CK Anil, principal secretary of the Revenue and Land Reforms department.
The Nitish Kumar government has been trying to fix the state’s tangled land records for more than a decade. However, it achieved limited success due to missing records, the language barrier, corruption at circle offices, and land disputes, which reportedly drive up to 60 per cent of the state’s crime.
The government has set multiple deadlines to digitise the land records, but is struggling to implement this on the ground.
Now, AI has been introduced as a solution to a problem that hundreds of land officials were not able to solve.
“We are pushing for advanced technologies like AI to make revenue administration faster, more open and genuinely citizen-focused,” said Vijay Sinha, minister at the Revenue and Land Reforms department, according to a Hindustan Times report. Each district will form a five-member AI cell, chaired by an additional collector (revenue) and including a land reforms deputy collector (DCLR), circle officer, and revenue officer.
“Your trust is our service. Together, we will eradicate land disputes from the root and build a just society,” Sinha posted on X. He is also the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
Senior IAS officer Jai Singh—who is close to Nitish Kumar—is leading the committee. He has spent years working on his digitisation projects.
“At present, problems are being faced because land is a sensitive issue. People are ready to live or die for every inch of land,” Singh told ThePrint in 2024.
Also read: Nitish’s exit is good for Bihar. It’s the beginning of JD(U)’s end and BJP’s supremacy
What will the committee do?
The order mentioned the three primary objectives of the committee—identification of opportunities, formulation of action plans, and capacity building.
The committee will identify areas within departmental operations—such as land surveys, automated verification of land records and documents, and data analysis—where Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be utilised. The work is reportedly going to begin at each district administration.
“Developing a comprehensive framework and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure the seamless implementation of the technical solutions. And formulating a strategy to train departmental officials and personnel in the application of this new technology, and subsequently conducting the necessary training,” reads the order.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)