1-Aug-2022: Private players can use drones for delivery purposes in accordance with Drone Rules, 2021

Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy. These include - agriculture, vaccine delivery, surveillance, search and rescue, transportation, mapping, defence and law enforcement to name a few. The Government is utilising services of drone service providers for vaccine delivery, inspection of oil pipelines and power transmission lines, anti-locust operations, agricultural spraying, survey of mines, land mapping under SVAMITVA scheme for issuance of digital property cards, etc. Many of these have been in remote areas of the country. Private players are free to use drones for delivery purposes subject to compliance with Drone Rules, 2021.

In September, 2021, the Government notified the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to promote the growth of drone manufacturing by private companies. The scheme provides for an incentive of Rs 120 crores, spread over three financial years. The PLI rate is 20% of the value addition over three financial years. PLI for a manufacturer shall be capped at 25% of total annual outlay. A provisional list of 23 PLI beneficiaries was released on 6th July 2022. The beneficiaries include 12 manufacturers of drones and 11 manufacturers of drone components.

The Drones Rules, 2021 notified on 25 August 2021 provide the necessary regulatory framework for commercial use of drones. These rules cover various aspects like type certification, registration and operation of drones, airspace restrictions, research, development and testing of drones, training and licensing, offences and penalties etc.

The key aspects of the regulatory framework under Drones Rules, 2021 are as follows:

1. Every drone, except for those meant for research, development and testing purposes, is required to be registered and should have a Unique Identification Number (UIN).
2. An airspace map of the country segregating the entire airspace into red, yellow and green zones is available on the digital sky platform. Operation of drones in red and yellow zones is subject to the approval of the Central Government and the concerned Air Traffic Control (ATC) authority respectively. No approval is required for operation of drones in green zones.
3. The State Government, the Union Territory Administration and Law enforcement agencies have been empowered under the Rules to declare a temporary red zone for a specified period.
4. Drones are required to have the necessary type certification issued by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). No type certification is however required in case of nano drones (up to 250 gram all-up weight) and model drones made for research and recreation purpose.
5. The owner and operators of drones are required to furnish the necessary personal details including their Indian passport number etc. for issuance of any registration or licence.
6. Rule 17 of the Drone Rules, 2021, lays down the provision of transfer of drone to another person by way of sale, lease, gift or any other mode, after providing requisite details of the transferor, transferee and unique identification number of the drone on the digital sky platform along with the applicable fees.
7. Authorisation of Remote Pilot Training Organisations (RPTO) will be done by DGCA within specified time limits.
8. Drone operations that violate the provisions of the Drone Rules, 2021 are punishable under Rule 49 of the Drone Rules, 2021 as well as provisions of any other law, for the time being in force.

20-Jul-2022: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, IMD is exploring the possibilities to deploy drones to gather atmospheric data from various locations, in place of weather balloons

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said, India Meteorological Department (IMD) is exploring the possibilities to deploy drones to gather atmospheric data from various locations, in place of weather balloons.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh informed that an inter-departmental committee has been constituted by IMD to conduct studies in this regard. In order to explore the technical feasibility of upper air boundary level data sensing, an invitation to industry and academia to demonstrate experimental drone-based radio-sounding on No Cost No Commitment (NCNC) basis has been released by Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and it is available on MoES and IMD websites. The last date for the submission of proposal was 16th of July, 2022.

The Minister also informed that Ministry of Earth Sciences is setting up a Thunderstorm Testbed site over East India for in-depth study of thunderstorms over the region. As a part of this project, the Ministry proposes to purchase two drones for monitoring of weather parameters of the atmospheric boundary layer prior to occurrence of thunderstorms and also for post event monitoring of damages.

Currently, radio sounding is the method in practice to measure vertical profile of physical properties of the upper air atmosphere and this is done by launching a transmitter interfaced with sensors aloft a weather balloon. Although weather balloons are widespread in use since long, it poses a limitation to successful recovery of the sensor and also limits the use of more sophisticated and widespread sensors due to underlying implicit cost involved. With the advent and sophistication in the unmanned aerial systems commonly known as drones, IMD is exploring the possibility to replace balloons with drones in gathering upper air observations. This new technology is expected to make the sensors recoverable and reusable thus likely to benefit IMD.

Upper air observations are a part of initial conditions for the weather forecast models. This new technology if found technically feasible through contemplated experimentation is expected to benefit IMD in the field of weather forecasting by providing high resolution upper air data from unexplored and remote areas along with the data from existing observatory networks.

19-Jul-2022: Use of Drones in Agriculture and Improving Farmers Income

Use of Drones for the Crop-protection in India is new and the country is gaining experience. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) initiated a network program during September, 2021 where in Research on use of Drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for timely monitoring of crop growth, health and managing it with enhanced input use efficiency were taken up. Drone and AI technology are used to monitor near real-time crop health. Drone is also used for variable rate technology for pesticide and liquid fertilizer applications, mapping of water spread area, water sampling, mapping macrophyte infestation and aquaculture management practices, etc. Drone and AI technology are also used for precision livestock farming, particularly its health monitoring.

For enhancing farmers’ income, the emphasis is on adopting a multi-dimensional strategy, which includes increase in production through creation of resources for improving irrigation; effective use of inputs; reduction of post-harvest losses; value addition; reforms in agriculture marketing; minimizing risk and providing security and assistance, and promotion of allied activities. The Government has adopted several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies that focus on higher incomes for the farmers.  All these policies & programmes are being supported by higher budgetary allocations, non-budgetary financial resources such as creating Corpus Funds like Micro Irrigation Fund etc. There have been several reforms to unleash the potential, e.g. Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs along with necessary financial support under AtmaNirbhar Package (Agriculture). Under AtmaNirbhar Bharat special attention is being paid for creation of infrastructure for which “Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has been created with a size of Rs.100,000 crore. Other special initiatives include Supplementary Income transfers under PM-KISAN; Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY); Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY); Increase in Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif & Rabi Crops ensuring a minimum of 50 percent of profit margin on the cost of production, Bee-Keeping; Rashtriya Gokul Mission; Blue Revolution; Interest Subvention Scheme; Kisan Credit Card (KCC) that now offers production loan to even dairy & fishery farmers besides agricultural crops etc.  The adoption of Drone technologies in agriculture has a potential to revolutionize the Indian agriculture.  In order to make Drone technology affordable to the farmers and other stakeholders of this sector, financial assistance @ 100% cost of drone together with the contingent expenditure is extended to ICAR/SAU/State Governments/State Government Institutions under Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) for its demonstration on the farmer’s field.  Apart from this, farmers are getting timely information and advisory services through online and telecom mediums such as Kisan Call Centre and Kisan Suvidha App so that farmers can make decision for increasing crop productivity. During last three years (2019-2021) a total of 946 field crop varieties have been released comprising of 379 of cereals, 146 of Oilseeds, 168 of Pulses, 55 of Forage Crops, 158 of Fibre Crops, 26 of Sugarcane and 14 of other crops (potential/minor crops). In addition, 288 varieties of Horticultural crops were also released. These improved varieties are helping farmers to increase their income.

31-Mar-2022: Series of reforms undertaken to promote Indian drone industry

The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components were notified on 30th September 2021 and the Government has invited applications from drone manufacturers for the PLI scheme on 10thMarch 2022. The Government is providing a total incentive of INR 120 crore spread over three financial years to the drone manufacturers/ industry under the PLI scheme. The PLI rate is 20% of the value addition over three financial years. PLI for a manufacturer shall be capped at 25% of total annual outlay.

The value addition shall be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components. In case a manufacturer fails to meet the threshold for the eligible value addition for a particular financial year, the manufacturer will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if the manufacturer makes up the shortfall in the subsequent year. As on 22ndMarch 2022, one application has been received from the drone manufacturers under the PLI scheme. The last date for submission of application form is 31st March 2022.

The Central Government has undertaken a series of reform measures to promote India's upcoming drone industry which are as follows:

1. Liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 notified on 25th August 2021.
2. Drone Airspace Map published on 24th September 2021, opening up nearly 90% of Indian airspace as a green zone for drone flying up to 400 feet.
3. Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones notified on 30th September 2021.
4. UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Policy Framework published on 24th October 2021.
5. Monetary grant program for purchase of agricultural drones was announced by the Union Agriculture Ministry on 22nd January 2022.
6. All five application forms under Drone Rules, 2021 made online on the DigitalSky Platform on 26th January 2022.
7. Drone certification scheme notified on 26th January 2022, making it easier to obtain type certificate by drone manufacturers.
8. Drone import policy notified on 9th February 2022, banning import of foreign drones and freeing up import of drone components.
9. Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2022 notified on 11th February 2022, abolishing the requirement of a drone pilot licence.