Draft of National Air Sports Policy

Context: Recently, Ministry of Civil Aviation has released draft National Air Sports Policy (NASP) for public feedback.
Key draft

• The policy seeks to leverage India's potential for air sports and places a strong focus on ensuring international best practices in safety. 
• It will require entities providing these services and their equipment to be registered, as well as be liable for penalties.
• It  proposes a two-tier governance structure for air sports in the country, which will include an apex governing body called the Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI) and associations for each air sport. 
• It will cover activities like aerobatics, aeromodelling, amateur-built and experimental aircraft, ballooning, drones, gliding, hang gliding, paragliding, microlighting, paramotoring, skydiving, and vintage aircraft.
• It is proposed that popular air sports attractions in the country such as Bir Billing in Himachal Pradesh, Gangtok in Sikkim, Hadapsar in Maharashtra and Vagamon in Kerala can be declared as a “control zone” for air sports in order to ensure the safety of other manned aircraft.
• The draft policy also aims to promote domestic design, development and manufacturing of air sports equipment under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan; waive import duty on equipment for a few years; as well as request the GST Council to consider rationalising the GST rate on air sports equipment to 5% or less.

Need and its significance

• India has the potential to be among the leading nations in the world of air sports. It has a large geographical expanse, diverse topography and fair weather conditions. 
• It has a large population, especially the youth. It has a growing culture for adventure sports and aviation. 
• Other than the direct revenue from air sports activities, the multiplier benefits in terms of growth of travel, tourism, infrastructure and local employment, especially in hilly areas of the country, are several times greater.
• Creation of air sports hubs across the country will also bring in air sports professionals and tourists from across the world.
• Schools and colleges will be encouraged to include air sports in their curriculum and their students will have the opportunity to participate in the FAI’s international competitions.

Vision of this policy
The vision of the policy is to make India one of the top air sports nations by 2030. The Government of India, therefore, plans to promote the country's air sports sector, by way of making it safe, affordable, accessible, enjoyable and sustainable. 

• Systems and processes need to be simplified and made more transparent; 
• focus on quality, safety and security need to be enhanced; and 
• investments in infrastructure, technology, training and awareness building need to be facilitated.

The draft National Air Sports Policy (NASP 2022) is a step in this direction and has been drafted on the basis of the inputs received from policymakers, air sports practitioners and the public at large. "It is an evolving document and will be modified from time to time".