Every property in Delhi may soon carry its own digital identity — the same way every citizen carries an Aadhaar card. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced on Thursday, 30 July 2026 that the Delhi government is preparing to introduce the 'Delhi Land Record Bill, 2026', a sweeping move to digitise and authenticate property ownership records across the capital. In her post, CM Gupta framed the initiative in deliberately accessible terms: 'जिस तरह आधार कार्ड ने हर नागरिक को एक विश्वसनीय पहचान दी' ['Just as Aadhaar gave every citizen a reliable identity'] — the same logic, she said, will now be applied to land. Under the proposed bill, a scientific survey of all of Delhi will be conducted, digital land records will be prepared, and each property will receive a unique 'Property Aadhaar Card'.

From 30 Villages to the Entire Capital

The plan does not start from scratch. CM Gupta pointed to the SVAMITVA scheme — the Central government's drone-survey programme launched in 2020 to map rural land parcels and issue property cards — as the proven template. The scheme has already been implemented across 30 rural villages in Delhi, providing a working proof of concept before the city-wide rollout. That on-the-ground experience, she said, forms the backbone of confidence behind scaling the model to all of Delhi. SVAMITVA, which stands for Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas, used drone technology to create accurate spatial records in areas where land ownership was often contested or undocumented. Extending that methodology into an urban and peri-urban context like Delhi represents a significant escalation in ambition.

What a 'Property Aadhaar Card' Would Change

The Aadhaar analogy is deliberate and politically potent. Aadhaar succeeded by giving India's vast, document-poor population a single verifiable credential. Property disputes, by contrast, remain one of India's most persistent legal headaches — clogging civil courts, enabling fraud, and blocking credit access for millions of homeowners who cannot prove clean title. A unique digital identifier for each property, backed by a scientific survey, would in principle make ownership verification faster, reduce scope for fraudulent double-registration, and make property-linked transactions — loans, sales, inheritance — more straightforward. CM Gupta specifically cited that the system will make property-related work 'more convenient, transparent, and trustworthy'. The next critical step is the bill's introduction and debate in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, followed by a phased rollout of surveys and card issuance. How quickly that legislative calendar moves — and how the survey methodology handles Delhi's dense mix of regularised colonies, unauthorised settlements, and contested land — will determine whether the Aadhaar analogy holds up in practice.