Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022

Drone is an idea whose time has come in India, announced India’s Civil Aviation Minister as he addressed the gathering during India’s biggest Drone festival organised at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Held from May 27-28, 2022, the Drone Festival of India 2022 or the Bharat Drone Mahotsav was inaugurated by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi who emphasised on the impressive enthusiasm that could be seen among entrepreneurs and stakeholders present at the festival. The drone industry in India has been garnering a lot of attention recently especially after the Drone Rules 2021. The government is pushing the use of drones in more and more areas and new start-ups are surfacing to provide solutions through the advancement of technology. In line with this, the drone festival was a testament to the administration’s focus as well as industry’s direction towards making India a global drone hub by 2030.

INAUGURATION

During his visit, the PM also interacted with Kisan drone pilots from different parts of the nation including Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra who have been using drones for agricultural purposes in their farms as well as educating those in their surrounding areas. Followed by this interaction, PM Modi witnessed open-air drone demonstrations and also tried his hand on operating a drone. He further interacted with startups in the drone exhibition centre.

The Prime Minister also gave away 150 drone pilot certificates during the ceremony. “The sector shows great possibilities of a major sector for employment generation”, he said.

Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Giriraj Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Mansukh Mandaviya, Bhupendra Yadav, many Ministers of State and leaders and entrepreneurs of drone industry were among those present on the occasion.

The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of drone technology in the fields of defence, disaster management, agriculture, tourism, film and entertainment. He said that the use of this technology is bound to increase in the coming days. The Prime Minister also narrated the use of drones in his official decision making through examples of PRAGATI reviews and Kedarnath projects.

Drone technology is going to play a major role in empowering farmers and modernise their lives as villages are witnessing the arrival of roads, electricity, optical fibre and digital technology, ensured the PM. The drone has emerged as an effective tool to tackle issues like wastage in agriculture, keeping of land records and flood & drought relief. Measures taken to help agriculture sectors have ensured that technology is no longer intimidating for the farmers, he said.

“Drone technology is going to play a major role in empowering farmers and modernise their lives,” PM Modi

The Prime Minister underlined the Svamitva Yojana scheme which has been highly appreciated for utilising drone technology. “Under this scheme, digital mapping of every property in the villages of the country is being done and digital property cards are being given to the people for the first time. Human intervention has reduced and as a result the scope for discrimination has ended.”Today we are making technology available to the masses first, he said. Till a few months back, there were a lot of restrictions on drones. We have removed most of the restrictions in a very short time. We are also moving towards creating a strong drone manufacturing ecosystem in India through schemes like PLI.

Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia also shared his views onthe importance of drones in multiple sectors. “While a drone can help security forces inmaintaining security, it can also help farmers,” he said emphasising that drones not only follow a “technology first” approach but also “people first”. “We’ve brought new drone rules and released a drone space map.The drone industry in India will reach 15,000 crore turnover by the year 2026. There are 270 drone startups operating in India today,” he added.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, over thousand delegates, consisting of government officials, armed forces, central armed police forces, Public Sector Units (PSUs), private companies as well as drone startups, etc., participated in the Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022.

DELIBERATIONS

Celebrating India’s march towards becoming a drone hub by 2030, important stakeholders from various government bodies discussed the importance that drone technology is playing and will play in the times in multiple sectors. From Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) Director General Arun Kumar to Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, Government of India’s Principal Scientific Adviser Ajay Kumar Sood to Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Dr S Chandrashekhar, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana as well as Ministry of Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal all echoed encouraging sentiment for the future of India’s drone industry and the wide applications of drones. From the current accomplishments of the drone industry and drone uses in several defence operations and other sectors to the policy framework around drones, emerging drone technologies as well as big export opportunities were shared. Quoting the example of a US research lab coming to ask permission to work with an Indian drone start-up for swarm drones, the Defence Secretary stated that drones have definitely initiated a global talk hold huge export possibilities in the future.

“The drone industry in India will reach 15,000 crore turnovers by the year 2026. There are 270 drone startups operating in India today,” said Civil Aviation Minister Scindia.

The festival discussions also touched upon accelerating manufacturing, the testing and certification processes of civil drones, the infrastructure scenario of drones, the role that drones play in almost every step of building an infrastructure development project, management of drone operations, kisan drones and the Agritech revolution that is coming about, developing an ecosystem for healthcare drone deliveries, airspace management for complex drone operations, developing countermeasures for rogue drones, diversity and inclusion in drone industry, developing a skill ecosystem for India, transforming the investment landscape for drones were the vast array of key topics that the Bharat Drone Mahotsav managed to touch upon in just two days.

EXHIBITION

The exhibition area of the drone festival was buzzing with energy throughout the festivals. There were over 70 exhibitors from the drone industry who participated in the festival. From drones for defence industry to agriculture drones, medical relief providing drones to civil operations drone, manufacturers, designers, anti-drone system developers, 3D printers, it was a vast spectrum of India’s drone industry that came together under one roof in the national capital.

The exhibition also showcased India’s first air taxi, ePlane 200 being developed by the ePlane Company that finds its roots in IIT Madras. Another exciting area in the exhibition centre was the Flying Zone where the visitors received the first-hand experience of flying a drone, set up by Flycamp, a drone training institute.

The Drone Festival of India 2022 by the Drone Federation of India indeed presented a “drone’s-eye view” of this industry. To the drone companies, the fest offered opportunities, contacts & hope; to the administration, it offered faith in the talent; to the visitors (be it kids, elders or just curious minds), it offered information & fascination and strongly declared the message that the time of drones has come. The trajectory ahead for the drone industry in India will be an exciting one to watch out for.