Government allows drone deployment to collect agricultural data in 100 districts

The Centre has given regulatory approval for drone deployment for remote sensing data collection in agricultural areas of 100 districts of the country. The move will be beneficial for Gram Panchayat level yield estimation, under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has granted conditional exemption for Remotely Piloted Aircraft System usage to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

"The exemption shall be valid from the one year from the date of issue of the permission letter or until the operationalisation of the 'Digital Sky Platform', whichever is earlier," the ministry said in a statement. "However, this exemption shall be valid only if all conditions and limitations are strictly adhered to." Besides, the ministry said in case of violation of any condition, this exemption shall become "null and void and action may be initiated as per Para 18 of the above mentioned CAR".