Himachal Pradesh becomes the first Indian state to approve a policy for drones

• Himachal Pradesh become the first state in the country to give a nod to drone policy.
• India has witnessed a 34.4% surge in the number of drone or UAV startups between August 2021 and February 2022.
• The drone manufacturing industry can create more than 10,000 direct jobs in the next three years.

In a major step forward, the Himachal Pradesh government gave nod to a drone policy as it seeks to enable the use of drones and similar technology for different public services in the hill state.

The ‘Himachal Pradesh Drone Policy 2022’ was approved by the chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, who said, “The policy envisions creating a holistic drone ecosystem built upon the foundation of Governance and Reforms Using Drones (GARUD).”

With this new drone policy, Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country to formally acknowledge the public use of drones.

Himachal’s drone policy mainly focuses on creating drone-enabled technology, creation of manpower through the establishment of training schools, startup and innovation schemes, and more.

The policy aims to propagate the use of drone-enabled technology in different sectors such as defence, transport, health, agriculture and more.

Also read: These four drone company stocks gave record breaking returns in one year

Additionally, drone technology will be used by the police department for surveillance in remote areas, which is crucial especially for a hilly state like Himachal Pradesh. Apart from this, the government also will allow the mining, forest, and horticulture departments to use drones for their respective needs.

Delivery of medicines, medical equipment, and other essential supplies will also commence with the help of drones in pandemic-affected and remote areas.

Scope of drone technology in India
For successful implementation of drone policy in the state, the Himachal Pradesh government has already designated ITI Shahpur for training personnel to use drones.

Further, the Department of Information Technology has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian drone companies such as Skye Air and TechEagle to deliver medical and agri commodities within the state.

As a part of MoUs, Skye Air and TechEagle have already completed trials in the Chamba and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh connecting multiple Community and Home Health Care (CHC) and hospitals in the area.

The Union Budget 2022, aims to boost the Indian drone industry as the budget includes ₹120 crore PLI scheme for the drone industry, intended to boost domestic manufacturing and ban of imported drones.

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