A flight path with obstacles 

Mains Paper: 3 | Internal Security  
Prelims level: India’s drone use policy
Mains level: India’s drone use policy makes the possibility of a red tape-free flight very slim 

Introduction 

• The ‘Swiss centre of excellence for agricultural research’, in Nyon, Switzerland, agriculture scientists fly a drone to study nitrogen level in leaves, not for a farm as a whole, but for each individual plant.
• The drone takes a large number of images, which when fed into a computer model with data on soil condition, weather, time of the year and other information helps analyse which plants are deficient in nitrogen, enabling farmers to add corrective fertilizer only where necessary.
• Sensefly, a Swiss drone manufacturer, has customers around the world whose use of drones has resulted in higher yield (more than 10% in observed case studies) and significantly lower usage of fertilizers and herbicides.

What are the policy contradictions?

• The futuristic promise of unmanned flying vehicles a more immediate reality, India has largely been dragging its feet. 
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has attempted to give some structure to the development of drone infrastructure in India. While announcing the publication of these guidelines,
• Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu made two points, the contradictions of which also highlight India’s lack of clarity on what it should do with drones. 
• He estimated the potential of the “drone market” in India to be $1 trillion. 
• He also said India’s security environment necessitated extra precautions.
• The regulations have been drafted on flying a drone is a task wrapped tightly in immense paperwork. 
• India’s regulations separate drones into five categories — nano, micro, small, medium and large. 
• There is very little regulation for flying a nano up to 50 metres height, except for not flying near airports, military sites or in segregated airspace.
• The paranoia kicks in from the micro category, starting with the application for a unique identification number (UIN) for each drone, with a long list of documentation including security clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in several cases. 
• Once the UIN is obtained, operators get to move to the next step of having to apply for an Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP), implying more forms, more annexures and more submissions. 
• To fly a micro drone below 200 ft, users have to intimate the local police station 24 hours prior. (One application requires that it be submitted with seven copies.)
• Manufacturers of drones as well as technologists and researchers making applications using drones have to test fly these frequently, often several times a day.
• The structure of these regulations makes the possibility of a red tape-free flight very slim.

What is untapped potential?

• The security and privacy risks of allowing drones to fly in an unregulated manner are high. 
• India has to reach even the fraction of the $1 trillion potential.
• Mr. Prabhu said, it needs to figure out a more balanced manner of regulation. The current rules are a start, but only in the sense that they free all drones from their previous illegality.
• The real impact of drones will be in the many applications they will be put to. 
• Agriculture is just one such. They are likely to be the disaster prevention systems, rescue operation leaders, and even public transport providers in the not too distant future. 
• Missing out on working on these applications early enough will likely have serious repercussions to India’s future competitiveness in the field.

Conclusion 

• India has to compete against these giants, it already has a lot of catching up to do.
• Filing a series of applications in multiple copies and waiting for various government departments to respond is not the best way to get started.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1) Aquila sometimes seen in news is a:
(a) Solar powered plane to beam internet
(b) Satellite to monitor ocean currents and tides
(c) Underwater observatory in the Arctic
(d) India's first indigenous radar mounted submarine
Answer:  A

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1) India’s drone use policy makes the possibility of a red tape-free flight very slim. Give you argument about the existing drone policy adopted by India.