The Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, has initiated Phase 2 of the NAKSHA capacity-building programme on June 2, 2025. The virtual inauguration by Secretary Manoj Joshi marks the start of a week-long training for 304 officials from 157 Urban Local Bodies at five National Centres of Excellence, enhancing urban land surveying skills using geospatial technologies.

Key Highlights:

• Phase 2 inaugurated virtually on June 2, 2025, by DoLR Secretary Manoj Joshi, focusing on training officials in modern geospatial surveying techniques.
• 304 participants from 157 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across 27 states and 3 Union Territories are involved in the training.
• Five Centres of Excellence host the programme: LBSNAA (Mussoorie), YASHADA (Pune), MGSIPA (Chandigarh), ATI (Mysuru), and the Northeast CoE (Guwahati).
• Hands-on modules include GNSS & ETS surveying, Web-GIS applications, land parcel mapping, and legal-administrative aspects.
• First phase recap: In May 2025, 160 Master Trainers were certified, preparing them to cascade skills to ULB and district officers.
• Strategic importance: With India’s urban population expected to exceed 600 million by 2031, accurate and verifiable land records are a critical component of urban planning and governance.