New Drone Rules announced by the government | Fusion - WeRIndia

To create new opportunities for innovations and drone technologies, the central government liberalized Drone Rules. It announced a new drone policy yesterday.

The new rules simplified the process by abolishing several approvals and requirements.

Here are a few of the new Drone Rules:

• As per the Drone Rules 2021, the coverage of drones increased to 500 kg. It was 300 kg in the past. At the same time, the number of forms was reduced to 5 from 25.
• Both the types of fees and the quantum of the fee have been reduced. While the types of the fee were reduced to 4, the quantum of the fee was reduced to nominal. For example, a remote pilot license fee has been reduced to ₹100 for all categories of drones. It was ₹3,000 for large drones in the past. But, now, this fee is the same for all drones. The licence is valid for 10 years.
• Many approvals were abolished. Some of them include unique prototype identification and unique authorisation number, certificate of conformance, import clearance, certificate of manufacturing and airworthiness, certificate of maintenance, student remote pilot licence, authorisation of R&D organization, and many more.
• The Civil Aviation Ministry says that the digital sky platform will be a user-friendly single-window system. Interactive airspace maps with different colour zones like green, yellow and red shall be displayed on the digital sky platform soon.
• There is no need to obtain permission to operate drones in green zones.
• Non-commercial users need not obtain a remote pilot license for operating micro and nano drones.
• Also, no need for security clearance before issuance of any registration or licence.
• The DGFT regulates the import of drones.
• Both nano and model drones made for research or recreation purposes need not obtain a type certification as they are exempt.
• The government is mulling to set up a drone promotion council in association with all stakeholders.

Image by Webagentur Meerbusch from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/photos/drones-images-drone-flies-chassis-3525497/