days per tehsil and work will be carried out simultaneously in all tehsils. Validation of information will be undertaken by the Board of Revenue staff while the data is being entered. But only data entry is to be checked, not the RORs themselves. Training of tehsildars will take place in a phased manner. A computerised land pass book will be provided to each individual landowner to maintain a proper account of land transactions. This will also serve as documentary evidence of rights in land for such purposes as raising institutional credit.

Since the project has only recently begun in Orissa it is too early to assess its possible impact. However, COLR was originally mooted during the Seventh Five-Year Plan and some projects were taken up in a few states as pilot projects during 1988-89 to 1991-92. Morena district in Madhya Pradesh was the first to be completed as a pilot project in 1992. In spite of methodological limitations, a recent evaluation report of COLR in Morena (Sinha, 1998) concludes that the programme has:

- increased flow of information to the public through improved access to records and an increased awareness of their rights, although this benefit has accrued more to those situated near district or tehsil headquarters;

- led to the emergence of the data-entry operator as a new rent-seeking agent;

- been responsible for only a marginal reduction in the workload of the _patwaris_ (revenue inspectors); * failed to reduce the rent-seeking behaviour _of patwaris_ because they perform numerous functions besides providing copies of the ROR that are unaffected by computerisation of land records, and because people are loathe to deny the RI (for possible favours in the future) what has now come to be regarded as his due share;

- a not resulted in better implementation of land reforms;

- not led to any significant improvements in land record management; * so far failed to facilitate land transfers; and * not led to any appreciable reduction in land disputes.

It should not be concluded from these findings that the computerisation of land records is ultimately likely to prove unsuccessful. Programme acceptance by all levels of the administration through increased utilisation of the database could increase its uptake in the future and increase effectiveness. The evaluation also suggests that the supply of computerised land records should be accompanied by a demand for the records from the farmers.

This is likely to happen only when members of the public are aware of their rights, know how to access informnation, and know how to press their claims. Under an initiative of the current Revenue Secretary, a 'User's Manual on Revenue Laws and Rights in Land' has been prepared in Oriya language in order to raise such awareness among land users. It is designed to be user-friendly and to provide simple information in a 'Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQ) format, and will be distributed at a low price (about Rs. 10 per copy) through revenue offices, local panchayats, etc. About 25,000 copies are likely to be produced in the first instance.

Inefficiencies in land records management stem from a combination of factors, only some of which computerisation is likely to help address. For example, it cannot reduce inaccuracies in the initial recording of interests in land. The now almost negligible contribution of land revenue to the state budget seems to have contributed to the perception that it is not important to maintain accurate land records. While revenue inspectors continue to collect primary data and to represent the cutting edge of land administration, there has been no addition to the local revenue staff (revenue inspectors, clerks, etc.) to cope with the increase in the volume of work arising from the natural increases in population and land transactions, and no new investment in infrastructure or staff training. Recent years have also witnessed a rapid increase in development work (such as digging bore-wells, installing bio-gas plants, meeting adult literacy targets, etc.) which is often handled by the revenue staff. Taken together, these factors combine to over-burden the lower levels of the 37