Ministry of Civil Aviation urges various ministries to promote the use of drones
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has requested several Ministries including the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to encourage various entities under their administrative control to promote the use of drones.
Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy like -agriculture, medicine delivery, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, defence and law enforcement etc. An illustrative list of drone applications under different Ministries is attached herewith as Annexure- I.
As per Drone Rules, 2021, the operation of drones in zones marked red and yellow on the drone airspace map zones requires permission from the Central Government and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) authority respectively. No permission is required to operate a drone in a green zone which is where most of the drone operations currently happen.
Annexure -I
An illustrative list of drone applications under different Union Ministries
| S No | Ministry | Illustrative drone applications |
| 1 | Agriculture & FarmersWelfare | Crop and soil health monitoring irrigation estimation and scheduling requirements and efficacy assessment of fertilizer and pesticide sprayingAnti-locust operationsCrop output estimatesRiver and canal erosion; restoration tracking insurance claim surveys |
| 2 | Health & Family Welfare | Delivery of medicines, equipment and other supplies pathology tests – sample collection from remote or epidemic/ pandemic affected areas |
| 3 | Panchayati Raj | Land records and property rights (SVAMITVA Scheme) |
| 4 | Defence | SurveillanceCombat Communication in remote areasSwarm drone solutions counter-drone solutions |
| 5 | Home Affairs | Surveillance, situational analysis, public announcements and evidence gathering for: Security of sensitive installationsRaids and counter-terror operationsCrowd managementCrime control VIP security disaster management; search and rescue; transportation of food, medicines and essential traffic management |
| 6 | Housing and Urban Affairs | Urban planning and management construction planning and monitoring incident reportingPrevention of encroachment and land-use alteration |
| 7 | Transportation: Road Transport and Highways; Railways; Ports, Shipping and Waterways | SurveillanceIncident response inspection and maintenance project monitoring disaster management |
| 8 | Mining | Monitoring and InspectionAutomatic surveying and mappingStockpile assessment and managementHaulage road optimisation |
| 9 | Power | Real-time surveillance of assets and transmission linesTheft prevention and incident responseVisual inspection and maintenance construction planning and management |
| 10 | Petroleum and NaturalGas | Real-time surveillance of assets and pipeline theft prevention and incident responseVisual inspection and maintenance construction planning and management |
| 11 | Environment, Forests and Climate Change | Monitoring of forests and wildlifeAfforestation through seed-balls, irrigation and real-time monitoringAnti-poaching actionsPollution assessment and evidence-gathering |
| 12 | Information and Broadcasting | High-quality videography of events and difficult-to-reach-places at a fraction of the cost and approvals required low altitude shooting without noise and-dust pollution and risk of accidentsComplete replacement of costly helicopter-based videography |
Note:
- The above list is illustrative and not exhaustive. New applications may evolve with time, usage and further innovations.
- The above list has been prepared in consultation with academia, drone startups and industry bodies.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry Of Civil Aviation (Gen. (Dr) V. K.Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
Disclaimer : This is an official press release by PIB.
