New rules mean drones are set to聽take off in India at last. But the legislation also requires pilots of all but tiny craft to get approval for every flight, even a zip around the local park.
The regulations came into force earlier this month, overturning a 2014 ban on drone use by anyone other than government agencies. Now, commercial and recreational drones can fly during daytime, as long as they stay below 120 metres and within sight of operators.
All drones over 250聽grams in weight will need to be registered with India鈥檚 Directorate General of Civil Aviation and equipped with something called 鈥渘o permission, no take-off鈥� (NPNT) technology.
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That technology means drone makers will need to build in software or hardware that blocks operation until an encrypted permission key is obtained from the authorities.
No fly zone
To get a key, operators will need to submit flight plans to a new online platform called Digital Sky. This will check the plans against the new operating rules and ensure drones are not going into restricted airspace. Finally, a log of the actual flight must be filed, though it is not yet clear how this part will be enforced.
In most countries that allow civilian drones, pilots are broadly trusted to stick to regulations and are only prosecuted if they break the rules. That wouldn鈥檛 work in India, says Tanuj Bhojwani from think tank iSPIRT Foundation in Bangalore, who designed the new regulatory system.
鈥淥n the enforcement side there聽is a lack of capacity, and in聽India there is a cultural tendency to come up with creative solutions to get around the rules,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople say, 鈥榃hy should I聽follow the rules and be the idiot to jump through all the hoops when my competitor brazenly does what they want?鈥欌�夆��
The technology is also designed with India鈥檚 security agencies in mind, as they are reluctant to add聽thousands of drones to the country鈥檚 airspace, says Bhojwani. 鈥淚t is a compromise between what government expects and what industry wants,鈥� he says.
The system can鈥檛 actually be applied until next year, because there are no drones equipped with the necessary NPNT technology yet, and the Digital Sky platform for flight approvals is yet to go live.
Both Indian and foreign drone manufacturers are now adding the permissions system to their products, says Bhojwani.
If the system works, and NPNT鈥慹quipped drones become more widely available, Bhojwani hopes that other developing countries without the resources for strict enforcement will adopt a similar approach.
But Ananth Padmanabhan at the Centre for Policy Research, a think tank in New Delhi, says the technology is unlikely to stop those determined to break the rules. Drones are relatively easy to build and are often smuggled into India, which would make it easy to bypass the NPNT requirement.
Padmanabhan worries that enforcing overly rigid standards on how drones can be built and operated could stifle innovation in a fledgling industry. 鈥淭he honest truth is that there is no clear security answer,鈥� he says.
Gokul Kumaravelu from Bangalore-based drone operator SkyLark Drones says he is happy that India is allowing more uses for the aircraft. His firm has been doing imaging and surveying work for government agencies, but applying for permission under the current system has been a slow, onerous and uncertain process. 鈥淭his new system unlocks the way we can do business,鈥� he says.
