The Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, placing the draft 'The Registration Bill 2025' in the public domain for consultation marks the initiation of the legislative exercise to replace the document registration system in the country with a modern, online, paperless and citizen-centric registration system. States achieving full computerisation of land records will be critical to achieve the desired objectives of the proposed legislation. Land records are not available in areas under community ownership of land in the northeast region, and challenges of document registrations in those areas will continue to persist even after the rollout of the new system. After the enactment, the bill will replace the existing Registration Act, 1908, which provides the framework for the states to enact their own land laws and rules for registration of land documents. The rationale behind replacing the colonial-era Registration Act, 1908, with modern legislation is that the importance of registered documents has risen manifold for financial, administrative and legal decision-making, such as the approval and sanction of loans against the submission of such documents as collateral after proper market valuation. Adoption of technology to facilitate computerisation of land records, registration and accessibility of registered documents by citizens and government functionaries needs an enabling legal framework. Key features of the bill include facilitating online registration and introducing enabling provisions to support online registration, including electronic presentation and admission of documents, issuance of electronic registration certificates, and digital maintenance of records. Aadhaar-based authentication with informed consent is permitted, but alongside alternative verification mechanisms for individuals who do not possess Aadhaar or choose not to use it provides flexibility and increases the trust factor over the sharing of private credentials in an online system. It also enables electronic integration with other record-keeping systems to enhance the efficiency and integrity of information flows. Online retrieval of documents provides a fast and robust system compared to the clumsy, paper-dominated document registration system, which takes much time in accessing and processing documents and delays financial, administrative and legal decisions. Another important feature of the bill is expanding the scope of compulsory registration to reflect contemporary property and transaction practices. The expanded list will include agreements to sell, powers of attorney, sale certificates issued by competent authorities, equitable mortgage arrangements, and certain instruments based on court orders. The bill will recognise the reliance placed on registered documents in legal and commercial contexts and define clear and objective grounds under which a registering officer may refuse registration. It also provides an enabling provision for appropriate governments to issue rules on cancellation of registration subject to certain standards to ensure that the registration process operates within the bounds of law while upholding the reliability and evidentiary value of registered instruments. The Bill seeks to promote plain language draughting, digital enablement, and transparent procedures to make the registration process more accessible, especially for individual citizens and small businesses. It encourages simplification without compromising on legal certainty or procedural safeguards. Such accessible and citizen-centric processes will help build confidence among poor and underprivileged people to rely on the formal land transfer or land mortgage for availing credit from banks and other financial institutions and stop indulging in informal and unauthorized land transfer and reduce dependence on the informal credit market. The digital empowerment of common citizens, along with awareness of land document registration, will play a crucial role in taking the computerisation of land records to the next level of integrating the document repository with the legal, financial and administrative ecosystem. The bill modernises the organisational structure of the registration establishment by creating a more agile and responsive hierarchy, including the introduction of additional and assistant inspectors general of registration, which will weed out middlemen in the system who exploit and dupe the people in the name of providing assistance in getting their land documents registered. Availability of online land documents along with a clear and strong regulatory mechanism will also bring more transparency in land acquisition for industrial and infrastructure projects. Project developers will benefit from faster document access and retrieval in the online ecosystem, and this will help expedite industrial and infrastructure projects. Often complexities in land acquisition arise, delaying project work, and target dates of completion are missed even though availability of funds is not an issue. The complexities of land acquisition in respect of land with community ownership across the northeast region will not go away simply with the enactment of the bill. Nevertheless, for areas outside the community-owned land with complete computerised land documents, the process of land acquisition will be fast-tracked under the enabling system to be facilitated by the proposed law. Expediting cadastral surveys in the region and distribution of land certificates is an urgent need of the hour to ensure computerisation of land documents in more areas for faster service delivery and derive maximum benefits from the proposed reforms.