On February 18, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off 100 kisan drones in different cities and towns of India, in order to help farmers in spraying pesticides in their farms.

Key Facts

This is a new chapter in direction of modern agricultural facilities of 21st century. This move will prove to be a milestone in development of drone sector and will also open sky to unlimited possibilities.

Background

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced major stimulus for farming and agriculture sector in Budget 2022-23. As a part, Centre will promote Kisan Drones, public-private partnerships to deliver digital & high-tech services and chemical-free natural farming, to farmers across India during financial year 2022-23. She announced while emphasizing the usage of technology, that kisan drones will be promoted for digitization of land records, crop assessment, and spraying nutrients and insecticides.

Drone Shakti Scheme

This scheme was announced in Union Budget 2022. The budget pushed for promoting drones by means of start-ups and skilling at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Under the scheme, start-ups will be promoted in a bid to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS). Under it, courses for skilling will also be started in some selected ITIs across the States. Sectors where drones can be employed are agriculture, photography, telecom, mining, insurance, oil & gas, transport, construction, disaster management, defence & law enforcement, geo-spatial mapping, forest and wildlife etc.