New Gharouni Act in UP to provide loans for building houses in rural areas

The Uttar Pradesh Rural Population Bill, 2025, also known as the Gharouni Act, was passed in the Legislative Assembly during the ongoing winter session.

Once this law is notified, villagers will be able to obtain bank loans for building houses. Amendments to ownership records on residential land will also be possible.

This bill is crucial for simplifying processes such as the purchase, sale, and transfer of residential land in rural areas and for securing ownership rights. The Gharouni document will now be considered the official document. The process of changing and correcting names in the Gharouni due to inheritance, sale, or other reasons has been made easier.

Furthermore, provisions have been made for correcting errors in the Gharouni and updating mobile numbers and addresses.

According to officials here on Wednesday, the Uttar Pradesh government has taken this step to provide legal recognition to the ownership records of rural residential areas prepared using drone technology under the Government of India’s SVAMITVA scheme.

State Tourism and Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh stated that the implementation of this law will enable the preservation of Gharouni records, the recording of new records from time to time, and legally mandated management.

He said that the objective of the SVAMITVA scheme is to conduct accurate surveys in villages and prepare proper documents for people’s residential properties. This will enable rural residents to obtain bank loans and other financial facilities based on their land and houses. This scheme will help in maintaining accurate land records, determining property tax, creating GIS maps, and better planning of development schemes for Gram Panchayats (village councils).

He informed that an MoU has been signed between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government regarding this scheme. Approximately 110,344 villages in the state have been notified under the scheme. Excluding uninhabited villages, drone surveys have been completed in 90,573 villages. By May 9, 2025, more than 1.06 crore Gharounis had been prepared. Of these, more than 1.01 crore Gharounis have been distributed to the villagers.

The Tourism and Culture Minister said that after the Gharouni is created, changes and amendments are needed over time due to reasons such as inheritance, succession, and sale, but until now, there were no clear rules for this. To address this deficiency, this bill has been introduced based on a proposal from the Revenue Council.

The bill stipulates that the record of rural properties will be called “Gharauni,” which will contain the owner’s name and address, plot details, area, sketch, and spatial information. A compilation of all Gharaunis of a village will constitute the Gharauni register, and a separate village map will also be prepared. A clear procedure has been established for the appointment of survey and record officers and for issuing notifications for the survey and preparation of records. Under this law, the District Magistrate (DM) will be designated as the record officer in each district.

Jaiveer Singh stated that the implementation of this bill will lead to a reduction in property disputes in rural areas, increased transparency in records, a better taxation system, and strengthened planned development. This law will prove to be a historic and far-reaching step for rural populated areas.