Home Secretary urges FICCI to formulate a comprehensive policy to help the Government

While giving away his key note address, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi highlighted the need to build a technology intensive security framework for the proper control UAVs in the country. He emphasized that the UAV technology has both positive and negative aspects, and thus policy regulations need to be both preventive as well as enabling.

Speaking at the seminar organized by FICCI on 'India's Internal Security and UAVs' in New Delhi, Rajiv Mehrishi urged FICCI to formulate separate committees in all the three areas, and submit its recommendations to the government so as to formulate a comprehensive policy framework for use of UAVs in the country.

Emphasizing the need to re-look at the usages of UAVs in the current state of development, Air Vice Marshal Rajeev Sachdeva, National Technical Research Organisation, Govt. of India, listed some of the important uses of UAVs for traffic and crowd control, VIP security, fire control, flood control, wildlife security, farming, etc. He highlighted that 87 nations possess drones and conduct surveillance through UAVs, and that the demand for UAVs is expected to quadruple by the end of this decade.

While there are numerous benefits of military and civilian use of drones, the government should possess potential to prevent unauthorized flying of mischievous and rouge UAVs. The need of the hour is the formulated effective policies for military use of UAVs for security, civilian use of UAVs; and preventing rouge UAVs.

Dr. A. Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI emphasized that FICCI is committed to public safety and security particularly with reference to safe and secure cities. With 22.5 per cent of the world's UAV imports, between 1985 and 2014, India is ranked first among the drone importing nations. There is thus an urgent need to formulate a regulatory framework for manufacturing and deployment of UAV-based solution, particularly in the civilian domain.

The presentations were followed by a panel discussion on "Policy and Regulatory Framework for Civilian Usage of UAVs in India". The discussion was chaired by Maj. Gen. R.K. Arora, CEO and Chief Editor, Indian Military Review.