Draft of Drone Rules 2021 for ease of flying drones in India by Aarya Krishnan and Padma Priya

New Delhi, Jul 18: The draft version (proposed version that will be accepted later) of the Drone Rules 2021 has been released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. This will take the place of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, which were released on March 12th, 2021. According to the stakeholders, the UAS rules for using drones are too complicated, and simpler procedures are required. Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a public call for feedback. Comments received until August 5th will be evaluated and incorporated before the final drone rules are published.

Drones and their uses:

Any unmanned aircraft is referred to as an “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle” (UAV) or Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) or simply Drone. Drones can be as large as an aircraft or as small as the palm of your hand. Drones, which were originally created for the military and aerospace industries, have made their way into the mainstream because of the higher levels of safety and efficiency they give. They can conduct a wide range of tasks, from military and rescue missions to package delivery at your front door and practically everywhere in between. Drones are also employed in photography, wildlife and historical conservation, emergency rescue, agriculture, and other industries, to name a few. I’m sure you’ve heard about the first-ever offensive use of drones to target a military installation in India on June 27, 2021.

UAS Rules 2021:

India’s first Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) were issued for drones in 2018, but until 2021, the majority of operations were not effectively regulated. It took over two years for the Ministry of Civil Aviation to produce the new Indian Drone Regulations, named UAS Rules 2021, effective 12 March 2021. These are some of the current guidelines for use of drones in India, as per the current UAS Rules:

1. Drone Operator Permit for different drone sizes:
   1. Nano: No permit is needed.
   2. Micro: To drive micro drones you will need an UAS Operator Permit-I (UAOP-I).
   3. Medium or large drones: To drive medium or large drones you will need an UAS
   Operator Permit-II (UAOP-II).
2. Validity period: The validity period of the approval is up to 10 years.
3. Penalties:

a. Except Nano class drones, any individual who pilots a drone without a valid license or permit shall have to pay a fine of Rupees 25,000.

2. Flying over red zones will draw a fine of rupees 50,000.
3. Drones that are flying without valid third-party insurance will be subject to a hefty fine.

These are some of the basic rules to be followed. But there are many rules that are so stringent that the whole of the drone sector in India was rendered illegal when the UAS Rules 2021 came into effect. This had adversely affected the ease of doing business in this sector.

The new law established a series of requirements to be followed by not only owners, operators (commercial and leisure), and service providers, but also manufacturers, importers, and traders of drones as well. All drone operators would be required to register their drones and get authorization to fly for each flight using India’s Digital Sky Platform, which is accessible via the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) website. However, DigitalSky, an online platform for monitoring drone activities, has been mostly inactive since its inception in December 2018, making it difficult to secure any approvals.

With the exception of those in the Nano category, all drones flying in India must have GPS, return- to-home (RTH) button, anti-collision light, identity plate, a certified flight controller capable of logging flight data as well as an RFID and SIM. Addition of such expensive feature especially to micro and small drones makes them economically and commercially unviable in today’s marketplaces.

Apart from these technical problems, India’s No Permission, No Take-off (NPNT) Policy requires drone pilots to request and receive permission to fly for each and every flight via a mobile app, which will automatically process the request and grant or reject it via their web portal. These laws apply not just to commercial drone players, but also to hobbyists and travelers. They have to go through a week-long training session costing up to INR 25,000 to be able to operate any drone weighing more than 250 gm for leisure purposes. Two separate pilot permit applications must be filed to the DGCA – one as a student and one as an operator after training is completed. Two further applications must be made in order to register both the drone and the drone owner with the authorities. If you are planning a vacation and want to capture your vacation moments from the air, you must first obtain permission from the DGCA.

This is due to the fact that, with the exception of nano drones, all drones and drone operations fall under Category C, which assumes significant levels of danger that cannot be addressed purely through operational constraints. So, risk mitigation includes a design and type certification, a certificate of airworthiness, flight manuals, instructions for continuous airworthiness (maintenance), production approvals, and other typical civil aviation certificates. Because of this, a drone operator may be required to fill out 25 application forms and pay substantial costs for each application as a fee in order to be permitted to operate. Important infrastructures, such as testing labs, that are mandated by these rules are mostly missing. Penalties of up to Rs. 5,00,000 are imposed on those who fail to comply with various long approvals.

Officials from the Aviation Ministry have been outspoken about their desire to make India the “drone capital of the world.” But the UAS Rules have made flying a drone in India an extremely difficult task. The industry agrees that the new requirements will be very difficult to comply. This has affected the progress of drone sector in India. There are now only 22 certified drones in India, with the majority intended for industrial use.

Following feedback from academic institutions, industry, and other stakeholders, and identifying the enormous prospects for economic growth and job creation in this sector, the Central Government issued the draft Drone Rules, 2021. The proposed legislation aims to make drone flying more accessible in India while also ensuring the safety and security of persons and assets.

Some Important changes in the Draft Drone Rules, 2021 include:

1. The Digital Sky platform will be designed as a user-friendly single-window internet system for businesses. The digital sky platform will have little human interaction, and most permissions will be self-generated. On the digital sky platform, an interactive airspace map featuring green, yellow, and red zones will be presented.
2. By eliminating approvals such as unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permit, authorisation of R&D organisation, student remote pilot license, remote pilot instructor authorisation, drone certification, the number of application forms required has been reduced from 25 to 6. Similarly, the application fee has been decreased to minimum levels, regardless of the size of the drone.
3. There is no need for a pilot license for micro drones (for non-commercial use),nano drones, and for R&D organisations. For R&D entities, there is also no need for a certificate of airworthiness, a unique identifying number, previous approval, or a remote pilot license.

4. The DGCA will prescribe standard operating procedures (SOP) and training procedure manuals (TPM) on the digital sky platform for user self-monitoring. Unless there is a considerable deviation from the authorised procedures, no permissions are necessary. For compliance also,a six-month advance period will be provided.

4. A council to promote drones will be formed in order to support a business-friendly regulatorysystem. Drone corridors for goods delivery will be created. Drone coverage has been expandedfrom 300 kg to 500 kg. This will include drone taxis.
5. Maximum penalty under Drone Rules, 2021 reduced to INR 1 lakh.The complete draft version of the rules can be accessed here.