India’s new drone rules

Context

The central government has notified the Drone Rules 2021, a much more liberalised regime for unmanned aircraft systems than what existed previously. 

What is in the new rules?

• Several requirements and approvals have been abolished and this is expected to make drone operations simpler for civilian drone operators.
• The total number of forms that were to be filled has been reduced from 25 to five.
• The total number of fees that are to be paid before being able to operate drones has been reduced from 72 to just four.
• The various approvals that were required, such as 
  • Unique authorisation number
  • Unique prototype identification number
  • Certificate of manufacturing
• Airworthiness, certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permit, authorisation of R&D organisation, student remote pilot licence, remote pilot instructor authorisation, and drone port authorisation etc have been abolished.
• The quantum of fees, which was earlier linked to the size of drones,has been reduced and delinked from the size. 

 For example, the remote pilot license fee, which was Rs 3,000 for a large size drone, has been reduced to Rs 100 — which is the fee for all categories of drones.

Other various relaxations

• The yellow zone, which was earlier a 45 km zone from the airport perimeter, has now been reduced to a 12 km zone, meaning that outside of a 12 km radius of an airport perimeter, it would be a green zone, where drone operators no longer need permission to fly.
• It has been specified that coverage of drones has increased from 300 kilograms to 500 kilograms to include heavy payload-carrying drones and drone taxis.