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Govt. opens window for registration of drones
Why in news?
- To facilitate identification of civil drones and operators that do not meet regulatory norms, the government has launched a one-time opportunity to voluntarily register them.
More in news
- Timeline for Registrations: It began on January 14, will be open for a fortnight.
- Reasons for the Exercise:
(1) Drones as new product: The drone policy did not first account for all the drones existing in the indian market considering them as a new product.
(2) No Retrofitting: Since one cannot retrofit the drones in the market to comply with the rules, it was decided to hold a one-time voluntary registration.
(3) Picture of Drone Types: The exercise will give a picture of who owns what kind of drone in which part of the country.
(4) Data will help in Policy decisions:
(a)This data will help in making policy decisions and should ideally become the base for understanding the scale of drone operations in India.
(b) It will provide an accurate number of drones in India, estimated to be between 4 lakh and 6 lakh.
(5) Drones in Legal Framework:
(a) This is a way to get existing drones in the legal framework and only if you register then in the future probably you will be considered, and some sort of a structure will be formed in which you can fly.
(b) This may enable flying of drones easily in the future while maintaining high standards of safety, security and accountability.
- Registratin Procedure:
(1) All drone operators are required to register on the Digital Sky portal: http://digitalsky.dgca. gov.in.
(2) They will be issued an Operator Acknowledgement Number (OAN) and a Drone Acknowledgement Number (DAN) for each drone registered under the operator’s profile.
(3) However, possessing a DAN or OAN does not confer any right to operate drones in India if it does not fulfil the provisions given in the civil aviation requirements (CAR).
(4) After the January 31 deadline, ownership of a drone without a valid DAN or OAN shall invite penal action under sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Sources
The Hindu