The drone industry has welcomed the government’s introduction of the “Drone Shakti” programme aimed at driving faster adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and bringing the technology to India’s farmlands.
During the Budget speech on Tuesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will promote startups to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications, with "drone as a service”.
It also plans to start relevant courses for skilling of manpower in every state in select Industrial Training Institutes (ITI). It plans to start 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics and another 75 skilling e-labs for simulated learning environments in the upcoming financial year.
“It is wonderful to see drones playing a key role in the budget as the focus on this technology will help the industry in a big way. I think the next revolution in agriculture will be through drone technology and the recently announced subsidy by the ministry of agriculture,” said Smit Shah, Director, Drone Federation of India.
Sitharaman also revealed plans to use “Kisan Drones” for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying insecticides and nutrients.
“(This) will enable the drone industry to collaborate with our farmers to improve operational efficiency and maximise profitability. This is a welcoming move and will make India’s agricultural sector future-ready”, said Mughilan Thiru Ramasamy, CEO & co-founder, Skylark Drones.
The finance minister also said that the government will support research and development in “sunrise opportunities” in areas such as geospatial systems and drones, too.
“Drone Shakti abhiyan will be a great force multiplier and consolidation in developing skilled individuals for the industry in India”, said Shah.
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