This Flying Bus Can't Be Missed

Last week, something exciting happened that many missed. India now has a more liberal and less fearful set of rules and regulations that will govern the use of drones

- Harish Bijoor

Your next pizza might get delivered by a drone. And the next gruesome crime in our lives could get solved by a quick and efficient process of drone policing at the spot of crime.

There is an exciting future in drones and what they can do. The drone is really an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that competes for airspace to do a lot more than we do through it today. In many ways it is the last frontier, as we have used the land and the sea and our waterways to the optimal point to fulfill our various needs, wants, desires and aspirations. The air and its potential is yet to be conquered.

Six days ago, an exciting new thing happened in the Indian context. The Ministry of Civil Aviation notified the Liberalised Drone Rules, 2021. The Press Information Bureau, Government of India, put this out promptly, as it normally does. Many missed it possibly. As if anticipating that, PM Narendra Modi tweeted that it would be a landmark move that would open up possibilities for innovation and business, with a wish to see India as a drone hub of the future.

I am excited. India now has a more liberal and less fearful set of rules and regulations that will govern the use of drones. That’s refreshing. The sad fact has been that most rules that define the use of common airspace, globally, operate in an environment of fear. What if this is misused? What if all the negative things you can do with a drone overtake all the positives? What if a terror group gets hold of it? The real point is that fear of misuse must never stop use. Fear cannot dictate the future.