Defence Estates Department Enters 100th Year, Rajnath To Attend Celebrations On Tuesday
New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) The Defence Estates Department, which manages the largest landholding of the Central government under the Ministry of Defence, has entered into its 100th year.
The Defence Estates Department, which manages the largest landholding of the Central government under the Ministry of Defence, has entered into its 100th year.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will preside over the Defence Estates Day celebrations at the Raksha Sampada Bhawan in Delhi Cantonment on Tuesday, officials said on Monday.
Singh will confer the Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence in public service in the field of defence land management and municipal administration of 61 cantonment boards spread across the country, the defence ministry said in a statement.
'This year's celebrations hold special significance as the department steps into its 100th year, commemorating a legacy that traces its origin to 1765, when the first cantonment was established in Barrackpore, West Bengal,' the statement said.
Over the subsequent century-and-a-half, cantonments such as Danapur (1766), Meerut (1803), Ambala (1843), Delhi (1915), etc., followed, laying the foundation for defence and land administration in India, it said.
The department was later formalised on December 16, 1926, as the 'Department of Land and Cantonments', which is under the Ministry of Defence.
'The Defence Estates Department today manages the largest landholding of the government of India under the Ministry of Defence. While steeped in history, the department has undertaken an exceptional modernisation journey, transforming itself into a pioneer in digital and tech-enabled land management,' the statement said.
The department has successfully implemented the e-Chhawani project by providing 100 per cent municipal services online to 20 lakh cantonment residents.
The department's efforts towards water conservation and rejuvenation of water bodies have been acknowledged at the highest level as it received the National Water Awards for Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari, it said.
The department has also undertaken complete digitisation of legacy land records, ensuring their preservation for the future.
The entire file management system has been modernised with nationwide adoption of a secure, technology-backed system, enabling seamless retrieval and safe archival, the statement said.
A centralised software platform, 'Raksha Bhoomi', hosted on secure servers, now serves as the unified repository of all defence land records, it said.
The department has developed core competency in land survey with extensive adoption of continuously operating reference station-enabled differential global positioning system, geographic information system-based tools, and high-resolution satellite imagery to strengthen accuracy.
A centre of excellence on satellite and unmanned remote vehicle initiative leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning and emerging technologies to build next-generation solutions for defence land management, the statement said.
In a separate statement, the ministry said that 31.69 lakh defence pensioners have been on boarded on the System for Pension Administration - Raksha (SPARSH), India's largest digital pension platform.
Ensuring 'Right Pension to the Right Pensioner at the Right Time', SPARSH has emerged as the country's first end-to-end digital pension platform, it said.
'Administered by the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) through PCDA (Pensions), Prayagraj, SPARSH has on boarded 31.69 lakh defence pensioners across India and Nepal as of November 2025.
'It replaces a fragmented system managed earlier by over 45,000 agencies with a unified, transparent and accountable digital framework,' the statement said.
Also, 94.3% of legacy discrepant cases have been resolved.
Out of 6.43 lakh discrepant cases migrated from previous systems, 6.07 lakh have been normalised without affecting pensioners' entitlements, it said.
