Gujarat Government Announces New Drone Policy, Expects To Create 25,000 Jobs

The state of Gujarat is already leading among all other states in India when it comes to the utilisation of drones. To make its usage more effective, the state government has now announced a new 'Drone Promotion and Usage Policy' to promote and increase the commercial use of drones by the government and private bodies. Through this initiative, the focus is also on making drone usage safer by bringing regulations.

The government also aims to create 25,000 jobs in the sector across the state. Under the initiative, the pilots, co-pilots, users, and manufacturers will have to get a unique identification number by completing registration on 'Sky Platform' and the demarcation area to operate drones from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

રાજ્યમાં અદ્યતન ટેક્નોલોજીના ઉપયોગથી સરકારી સેવાઓ સહિતની વિવિધ જાહેર સેવાઓ વધુ અસરકારક, લોકભોગ્ય અને કાર્યક્ષમ તથા ઝડપી બનાવવાની દિશામાં મહત્વના પગલાં સ્વરૂપે મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી ભૂપેન્દ્ર પટેલ દ્વારા ગુજરાતની મહત્વાકાંક્ષી 'ધી ડ્રોન પ્રમોશન એન્ડ યુસેજ' પોલિસીની જાહેરાત. pic.twitter.com/giwSvQW1a0

— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) August 10, 2022

According to the government's plan for implementation, the different departments of the state government will have to use the drone to complete various tasks, from monitoring vehicle emissions to counting lions in the forest of Gujarat. Each of the departments will have to provide its targets and cases in advance for the use of drones.

For instance, the Home Ministry department will use drones for crowd management, border surveillance, and disaster management. In contrast, the Agriculture department will use drones for maintaining soil quality, spraying pesticides, and sowing seeds. The health department would probably use drones for supplying medical items.

Recently, the state government also used drones to monitor Rath Yatra. According to government officials, the initiative is set to last for the next five years, after which an expansion model will be introduced. Using drones in the state will increase efficiency in the existing governance mechanism as developing technology will aid in fulfilling challenges and tasks.

Drone Adoption By Indian States

Recently, many states across India have adopted drones in their core operation by introducing several initiatives like drone policy and drones in educational institutes.

The Northeast's first drone pilot training school was introduced in Guwahati with a one-week course dedicated to teaching the students about the drone's mechanism, operation, and technicalities. Similarly, Karnataka's aerospace policy facilitated investments in the drone sector to promote its usage in government departments.

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