India will need around 1 lakh drone pilots in the future: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Representative image.

Drone manufacturing and services will create a multitude of jobs and is touted to be an over Rs 30,000-crore industry, Ministry of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said on May 10.

Addressing the “Experience Studio on Drones” event organised by the government think tank Niti Aayog, Scindia said, "The potential is huge in the drone industry. On the manufacturing side, we are looking at Rs 5,000 crore investments and creation of 10,000 jobs. On the services side, we are looking at creating a Rs 30,000-crore industry."

In the coming years, the country would need nearly a lakh drone pilots, the minister said.

"Today a drone pilot can be trained without requiring any college degrees. They just need to (be) 12th class pass. They can be into a job within two-three months, and get Rs 30,000 per month salary," he added.

Moneycontrol recently wrote about four transgender community members who were the first to be appointed as Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) certified drone pilots. The four, trans men and women, work for Chennai-based Dhaksha Unmanned Systems (DUMS).

Scindia said there were various applications of drones in agriculture, mining, security and other areas.

"What we needed to have is a policy for putting these applications to use. I said that it (previous Unmanned Aerial System Rules) has to be completely revamped. (In the Drone Rules 2021) We did away with number of forms, fees, made it much for nimble, quick," Scindia added.

"However, that wasn't the end game, that was only the beginning. I told my joint secretary that we needed to bring in an airspace map. Mind you that is a tough ask, to be able to map the country in red and yellow and green zones. We are talking about interacting with state governments, central governments, the defence. We did that."

Niti Aayog chairman Amitabh Kant also addressed the event.

“Experience Studio on Drones” will go on for a month to create awareness about sue of these unmanned flying machines and also sensitise various stakeholders.

The series will include a competition for startups in the field of “Drones for Social Impact”, NITI Aayog said.

While expressing concern over "a significant threat" posed to governments by drones, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs urged the Ministry of Home Affairs to create a pool of anti-drone technology and let all states and union territories access it. The committee also asked states about the steps taken to deal with drone attacks.

States such as Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and others said that they had designated red, yellow and green zones. However, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh informed the committee that they were still in the process of formulating these zones.