Securing Property Titles with Biometric Technology

The Case of Bangalore

Nafis HasanAzim Premji University –

Bangalore, India

Field Site

Total Population – 8.4 million peopleSlum Population – 14%

# Slums in Bangalore Govt Org # Slums

BBMP 542

KSCB 473

BCLC 778

Policy Premise

• Recent GoI housing policies for slums in urban cities propose the use of biometrics linked property titles for uniquely identifying beneficiaries for upgraded housing for a “slum free India” – Ex. BSUP under JNNURM and RAY

• What’s new?

• Proposed Security of Tenure• Biometric Card• Title document stating conditional rights of

use but not alienation

Assumptions

• Biometric linked titles can prevent ‘leakage’ and duplication of services and allow for interoperability between services linking a single beneficiary to multiple services.

• Such stronger forms of titling will lead to investment in housing and moving out of slums

Titling – Tenure Security - Investments

• What kind of titles lead to housing upgradation?• Two Views:• Legal titles Tenure Security Investment

in housingAccording to the adherents of tenure legalization, the provision of property titles establishes the tenure security needed for residents to invest in housing improvement, while also enabling land markets and facilitating access to credit (de Soto)

• Formal / Informal Titles Perceived Tenure Security Investment in housing

Others have maintained that perceived rather than legal tenure security is the more fundamental mechanism driving housing improvement and hence the development of slum settlements. Sources include signs of goodwill by government officials communicated through documents or even oral assurances and the provision of services (Gelder, Payne, etc.)

Documents and Tenure Security

Q1. What significance do documents of varying legality linked to property rights have for tenure security and investments in slums of Bangalore?

Q2. Can the use of biometrics to titling documents and other services lead to an increase in perceived tenure security among slum dwellers?

Methodology

Slum Visits

Building a network with

reps and activists

Structured Survey on four

broad indicators with all

categorical questions

Identifying purposive sample

for Pilot Study based on variety

of documents available

PRE STUDY• Perceived

probability and fear of eviction

• Access to Credit• Investments in

housing maintenance

• Investment in Consumer Durables

• Experiences relating to biometric enrolment

STUDY

Semi-structured interviews with

survey respondents

Study of the institutions delivering

biometric cards

Perceived Tenure Security - Survey

• Nature of documents

• Social Composition• Historicity• Geographic

Location• 150 respondents

were administered the survey

T C

Threat of Eviction

# r

espondents

T C

Loans

# r

espondents

T C

Improvement in Housing

# r

espondents

T C

Investment in Consumer Durables

# r

espondents

• Test group includes those with Bio-metric cards*, ‘Hakku Patras’, ‘Guritina cheetis’ and other documents.

• Control group have no property related documents but are similar in other respects since sample taken from the same slums.*Under 5% of target slum dwellers have received bio

metric cards

Perceived Tenure Security

1970-80 1981-1990 1991-2000 2001-2010

Perceived Tenure Security in Bangalore Slums

Low

H

igh

Hakku Patras – Document of conditional rights issued by a government authority granting access to the “site”, “plot” or “housing unit” and never access to the landGuritina Cheetis – Letters certifying slum residential address of slum dwellers without offering rights

• Documents of varying legality induce varying perceived security of tenure

among slum residents

• Categories are not watertight but there is a predominance of one type

every decade

• Results are directionally significant

• ‘Hakku Patra’ is still the most sought after document to ensure real or perceived tenure security.

• Some form of titling and tenure security also seem to impact critical choices (School education and demand for governmental services) in addition to investment in housing

• Slum dwellers are confused about the nature of rights and tenure security associated with the bio metric card.

Perceived Tenure Security - Interviews

Biometrics and Tenure Security

Q2. Can the use of biometrics to titling documents and other services lead to an

increase in perceived tenure security among slum dwellers?

Field ObservationsWhy are biometric linked ID cards not creating a sense of security among people?

Initial Survey

Not Accu-rate

Card Does Not

Mention Associ-

ated Rights

Delay In Receiv-ing Card

Basic Services

Not Linked

Others

Biometric Card Field Responses

# r

espondents

Municipal Corporati

on – Beneficiary

list

Technology

Partner – Biometrics capture and card

Parastatal

Agency – Bio metric

card delivery

Architecture

Titles and Unique ID

DUPLICATE

Unique ID

“Hakku Patra” – Record of Rights

Biometric ID

Alternative Architecture

TP Enrolment Agency

• Enrolments• Card Issuance• Maintaining DB

Municipal Corps• Housing / Sanitation /

Food• Authentication• Maintaining beneficiary DB

Adapted from UID Architecture

Alternative Governance• Proposed Biometric Property Title

document should explicitly state legal rights

• Devolution of Municipal powers to zone and ward levels to make planning and implementation closer to the people

• Delinking entitlement provider from identification agency (make it competitive like the UID) and put under Centre for e-governance

• Create enrolment dashboards and use biometrics to link databases and make them interoperable

Municipal CorporationZones

Wards

Next Steps• Recommendation to the government via a

consultative three member committee panel on 30th May 2015

• Increase the sample size and conduct a factor analysis to determine Eigen values of variables determining perceived tenure security

• Attempt a component attribution analysis to

determine specific impact of the biometric variable in the model

• Deploy a comparative framework to further understand the socio-techno aspects of the biometrics in governance approach

Thanks!