Past Work: Property Rights

Between 2015 and 2019, India Institute worked on property rights as a dedicated programme area — bringing together researchers, policymakers, legal experts, and technologists to examine how India’s property rights framework could be strengthened for ordinary citizens, particularly those in informal settlements and rural areas.

Blockchain for Property: A Roll Out Road Map for India

In 2017, India Institute published a landmark handbook on the application of blockchain technology to property rights in India — one of the earliest serious treatments of this question in the Indian policy context. The handbook examined how distributed ledger technology could address longstanding problems in India’s land records system: inaccuracy, opacity, manipulation, and the vulnerability of the poor to land grabbing and fraudulent transfers.

The handbook was published in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and brought together contributions from experts across technology, law, and public policy.

Editors: Vishnu Chandra and Baladevan Rangaraju

Contributors: J.A. Chowdary, Nusrat Farooq, Geeta Kanwar, Nikhil Narendran, Or Perelman, Ananth Padmanabhan, Baladevan Rangaraju, Aman Saxena

India Property Rights Conference

India Institute convened the India Property Rights Conference series in 2015, 2016 and 2017, bringing together researchers, lawyers, policymakers, and civil society organisations to examine property rights issues across land, housing, and intellectual property in India. The conferences provided a platform for evidence-based discussion on how strengthening property rights — particularly for the poor — could advance economic development and individual freedom.

India Institute also established the India Property Rights Association as a network for researchers and advocates working in this space.

India Property Rights Conference 2016 — Report [Download]

India Property Rights Conference 2015 — Report [Download]

Blockchain Conference 2017

In 2017, India Institute hosted the Blockchain and Technology Conference, bringing together experts to discuss practical applications of blockchain technology to property rights, land records, and governance in India.