Drone Rules 2021: The central government has issued new guidelines regarding flying drones. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a notification regarding this.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Thursday implemented rules for the drone industry. The ministry has introduced them after making the final changes in the rules. The new Drone Rules 2021, announced in July this year, will replace the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Rules 2021. Many approvals have been abolished under the new rules.
This includes Unique Authorization Number, Unique Prototype Identification Number, Confirmation Certificate, Maintenance Certificate, Operator Permit, Authorization of R&D Organisation, Student Remote Pilot License, Remote Pilot Instructor Authority, Drone Port Authority and Import Permission for Drone Components.
The government had announced new drone regulations on July 15 and sought comments from stakeholders and industry by August 5. The new rules were lauded by the stakeholders for simplifying procedures and reducing compliance burden to operate
The reduction in fee for operating drones comes just after the
government allowed 10 organizations including Mahindra & Mahindra, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Bare Crop Science to use drones for various purposes for a period of one year. Weeks later new rules have been passed. The government said in a statement on August 25 that under the Drone Rules 2021, the government has reduced the fee for operating a drone to a nominal level and separated from the size of the drone. Along with this, the coverage of drones has been increased from 300 kg to 500 kg under the new rules to include drones and drone taxis carrying heavy payloads.
The government has reduced the number of forms/permissions to operate drones in India from 25 to 5 and has also said that no security clearance will be required before the drone is registered or issued a license.
