New drone policy: Everything you need to know

Ground Report | New Delhi: New drone policy; The new drone rules have been called the Liberalized Drone Rules, 2021. The central government on Thursday announced to liberalize the rules for flying drones. The Civil Aviation Ministry has issued detailed rules in this regard on Thursday. The government claims that the new rules have been liberalized significantly from the rules issued in March.

According to the notification of the ministry, the new rules have been named "Liberalized Drone Rules, 2021". The government hopes that this will help India emerge as a "global drone hub" by 2030.

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New drone policy

Earlier, in March 2021, new rules were issued. Those rules were called the "Human Interest Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021". However, they were considered too harsh and 'restrictive'. After the negative opinion of the people, it has been decided to repeal those rules in just five months.

The government claims that almost all sectors of the economy such as agriculture, mining, infrastructure, transport, defence, surveillance, police work, emergency services, mapping etc. will benefit greatly from the new rules.

It believes that the economy can be of great benefit due to its accessibility, multifunctionality, and ease of use. Due to this, the backward and inaccessible areas of India are expected to get maximum benefit.

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Key features of the new drone regulations

• Now remote pilot license will not be required for micro drones (for non-commercial use) and nano drones.
• Now the approval of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will not have to be taken for the import of drones. Instead its import will be controlled through the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
• It has been made clear in the new rule that now no permission will be required to fly drones in the green zone. Also, now the number of forms has been reduced from 25 to only 5. At the same time, the duty on drones has now been reduced to only 4 instead of 72.
• Now the radius of the Yellow Zone will be only 12 km instead of the 45 km radius of the airport. While the weight limit of the drone has been increased from 3 quintals to 5 quintals.

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