Letter to BS: Reckless caution could affect nascent drone tech in India

We should not be oblivious to the significance of exercising caution to ensure that the so-called stringent regulatory oversight does not morph itself into an arbitrary one

Drones with multiple potential benefits — ranging from enabling food- delivering companies to service people living in high-rise apartments in urban areas cost-effectively and delivering medicines to people living in remote hill areas to delivering seeds to reforest such areas — has now evoked concerns among security agencies across the globe. That drones have been used by terrorists and state security agencies alike to target their enemies — the latest being the drone attack by the US to kill Iranian military general Soleimani — is now leading many countries, including India, to tighten the regulatory oversight over this infant sector.