The Palar River in Tamil Nadu gets heavily polluted as a result of tanneries discharging untreated chemical effluents, including toxic heavy metals like chromium, into it. The river that once had a breadth of 2000 ft has shrunk to 200 ft due to encroachment and illegal sand mining, with sand dug up to a depth of nearly 30 ft. As a result, groundwater, which was once available at 200 ft, is now only found below 1000 ft. In Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India, the Supreme Court directed tanneries to compensate families affected by chemical pollution in the river, and recommended establishing a monitoring committee to oversee sand mining operations, and to use real-time surveillance mechanisms such as drones and GPS to track and curb illegal operations more effectively.
Geospatial tools such as Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, remote sensing, GPS, drones, satellite imagery, etc. are increasingly utilised to implement India’s laws and policies for land governance. But why is this the case? Geospatial tools are technology that enable the collection, analysis, and visualisation of geographical data. In the context of land governance, GIS, supported by remote sensing, provides a framework for understanding land use patterns, ownership, and regulatory compliance. Local government bodies can improve their operational efficiency, enhance public engagement, and ensure sustainable land use practices, if they use such tools effectively.
How geospatial tools work in land governance
Mapping technologies such as satellite imagery, GIS, remote sensing data (RSD), and drones provide real-time and accurate information for managing and verifying land records.
By linking maps with databases, GIS enables the creation of dynamic and interactive visualisations. It primarily analyses spatial data, organises layers of information, and transforms them into meaningful visual outputs, including 3D maps and scenes.
According to a guidance note on the usage of GIS and RSD by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), such tools offer effective solutions to challenges related to disaster management, environmental change, and weather forecasting. They can be used for monitoring encroachments, analysing land use and land cover changes, monitoring afforestation efforts and forest fires, identifying alterations in water bodies, tracking mining and quarrying activities, especially those near forest boundaries, supporting land use planning, and understanding the impacts of climate change.
When GIS tools are in the hands of villages or collective institutions, they can easily map boundaries, identify commons, detect encroachments, and monitor forest degradation.
Government programmes like the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) under the Ministry of Rural Development and the National Geospatial Policy 2022 mandate the use of geospatial data, GIS-based maps, surveys, and digital mapping for rural and urban planning and land governance.
A significant example is from Tamil Nadu, where the Madras High Court in 2017 directed the state government to conduct a comprehensive survey of wetlands using geospatial tools. The court took serious note of the disappearance of water bodies, and appointed an amicus curiae, emphasising the need for precise, real-time data. As a result, satellite imagery was used extensively to map wetlands across districts, identify encroachments, and initiate restoration.
For local communities too, the use of these tools in land governance brings many benefits, such as clarity over land ownership and reducing disputes that often arise because of missing or unclear records. When GIS tools are in the hands of villages or collective institutions, they can easily map boundaries, identify commons, detect encroachments, and monitor forest degradation.
Navigating ground realities
The path to implementation of geospatial tools comes with its own set of hurdles. The government faces lack of capacity and resources in various departments, particularly a shortage of trained staff and resources. This is especially significant in the context of the commons. Commons mapping remains fragmented due to an absence of updated land records, clearly demarcated boundaries, and digital maps, which frequently leads to conflicts among neighbours in land governance processes. At the community level, additional roadblocks persist, such as limited data accessibility in rural areas, lack of access to GIS or digital maps, and limited capacity to integrate GIS-based surveys for mapping commons.
In response to these challenges, scholars, community movements, and commentators advocate for a departure from the traditional top-down, expert-driven model of land administration. They propose integrating participatory approaches such as community mapping into land documentation processes, aiming to establish a more inclusive, transparent, and a democratised land governance system.
One such community-led mapping initiative, undertaken to document the commons across 949 villages in Chittorgarh district in Rajasthan, offers insights into crafting effective and inclusive land governance strategies. Chittorgarh has several river basins, such as the Banas River that covers a large part of the district, the Chambal River in the eastern region, and the Mahi River in its south. Most livelihoods and economic opportunities here come from agriculture, with a substantial dependence on livestock in rural areas.
Communities had been finding it hard to map their shared natural resources due to a lack of updated information about the commons. This challenge was navigated with the help of Common Land Mapping (CLM), a digital application developed by the Indian Observatory. The process involved steps such as holding village meetings to create awareness on the importance of the commons, community-led discussions, and capacity building of communities on how to map the commons.
Using CLM, communities walked their landscapes, verified boundaries on the ground, and recorded GPS-based coordinates and geo-referenced points. Once the commons were identified and mapped, communities undertook restoration work using government programmes like MGNREGS. Restoration of traditional rainwater harvesting structures and sustained soil moisture levels in pasture lands in turn led to an increase in the income generated from rearing livestock as it created more sustainable access to grass and vegetation used for fodder.
Ethical use of GIS
While GIS offers powerful tools for mapping, analysing, and managing natural resources, it also raises questions related to data ownership, privacy, power dynamics, and social justice.
Privacy concerns exist about sharing and storage of geospatial data, including the risk of unintended or unknown surveillance.
India’s legal framework is evolving to meet these challenges. The Information Technology Act, 2000 provided an early regulatory base, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the new Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 now govern how personal data is processed, stored, and shared. However, land governance largely involves public non-personal data such as spatial maps, land records, and environmental assessments, which fall outside the boundary of personal data laws.
Nevertheless, privacy concerns exist about sharing and storage of geospatial data, including the risk of unintended or unknown surveillance. In addition to this, issues of data maintenance and safety arise, as managing geospatial information requires adherence to multiple storage standards and the implementation of strict, comprehensive policies. This further necessitates sufficient resources, adequate time, and qualified personnel to manage, monitor, and maintain the data effectively.
Recognising these gaps, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) constituted an eight-member committee of experts chaired by Kris Gopalakrishnan to develop a governance framework for non-personal data with the following recommendations:
- Legal recognition of different categories of non-personal data—public, private, and community data. Of these, community data refers to data about a group of people that derives value from collective characteristics rather than individual identities. Examples include agricultural data about farmers in a region, mobility patterns of urban residents, or platform data about gig workers. By recognising community data, the committee acknowledged that communities are not merely data sources but potential rights-holders.
- Treating entities that collect data—whether governments or private companies—as data custodians rather than absolute owners. This distinction allows rights over data use to be separated from the act of collection. To operationalise community rights, the committee proposed the creation of data trustees—institutions that would act in the best interest of communities by governing access, ensuring fair use, and enabling benefit-sharing.
- Mandatory data sharing for clearly defined public interest purposes, particularly for high-value datasets. The committee argued that data critical for public services, research, or innovation should not remain locked within private silos. It also recommended establishing a Non-Personal Data Authority to oversee data sharing, define standards for anonymisation, prevent harm, and resolve disputes.
The way forward
We believe that a clear framework is needed to distinguish between personal data, non-personal data, and community data. In this context, we suggest some steps to be taken by the government and civil society organisations:
- Dedicated GIS and spatial technology cells should be created at the district level to help monitor and strengthen land governance in every district. Having facilities like GIS and remote sensing at the district level can enable multiple agencies, such as the Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Revenue, Forest, and Water Resources departments, to collaborate more effectively in land governance. These should include skilled personnel to monitor land use changes and enable proactive decision-making to adjudicate land conflicts, detect encroachments, and support more informed decision making.
- Experts in technology, data management, and civic administration should be engaged to ensure precision. Additionally, these scientific tools should be integrated into construction approvals and boundary delineation to enhance land governance.
- Create clear ethical guidelines, data-sharing protocols, and robust consent mechanisms to prevent misuse. Follow free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) when collecting, using, or sharing spatial data related to local communities and ensure communities co-own the data, have copies in accessible formats, and have the right to decide how it is used.
- Civil society organisations can invest more in capacity building, demystifying GIS for community leaders, and creating open, user-friendly platforms (like India Observatory) that communities can use. Such tools can help to track land-use changes over time, identify encroachments more easily, and assess shifts in land use, thereby strengthening local land governance and monitoring.
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Know more
- Read more about why it’s important to map and protect commons.
- Read more about the value of commons.
