Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited investors from the country and rest of the world to India's drone industry, saying this is the right time to scale up the sector. He also said that the industry has the potential to generate more employment in the country.
While inaugurating the Bharat Drone Mahotsav in New Delhi, Modi said, "I hope there will be more experiments in the usage of drones in the future. I am again inviting investors from the country and all over the world. I am also appealing to experts in the industry, to make drones more accessible to people. I want to appeal to youngsters that new drone startups should come up."
He pointed out that drones were being used in many government schemes such as SVAVITMA (for land mapping). With the help of drones, 65 lakh property cards have been generated and disbursed to property holders. In the coming days, Modi said that drones will find applicability in all sectors from defence to disaster management, and from farming to sports.
The PM also said that drones will help in farming, especially in cultivation of pulses. He explained that types of pulse crops grow very tall and that it gets cumbersome for farmers to water or spray pesticides. He said that through drones, this process will get easier.
He also said that he has directed governments and policymakers to find usages of drones and also stated how he uses drones in his governance to monitor developments.
"Every month, I conduct a meeting involving CMs of all states. I ask them to provide live feeds of developmental works that are being undertaken through drones. For instance, during review meetings, I used to monitor Kedarnath development works through drones."
He also said, "Now it is not necessary that that I inform, beforehand, that I may be somewhere for inspection. If I do that, it is expected that everything will be sorted. However, if I send a drone, I will have the information and they will not even be aware."
During the event Modi also disbursed drone pilot certificates virtually to 150 people. Apart from the Prime Minister, Minister of Civil Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar and others were also present.
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