Karnataka's Drone-Based Land Registry Initiative Halted at 19.19% Completion in Dakshina Kannada District

The Karnataka government has formally suspended its drone survey initiative for modernizing land records in Dakshina Kannada district, having achieved only 19.19% coverage of villages. In official communications to the central government, state authorities cited fundamental operational constraints: the region's scattered habitations fail to meet the technical prerequisites for the SVAMITVA scheme's habitation-level drone mapping and parcel delineation protocols. This halt represents a significant setback for the national digital land records modernization effort, exposing critical challenges in applying uniform technological solutions across India's diverse settlement patterns. The suspension necessitates a strategic reassessment of implementation methodologies for geographically complex regions, potentially delaying the integration of Dakshina Kannada's land records into the national digital registry. The development underscores the intricate balance between technological ambition and on-ground demographic realities in India's administrative modernization drive.