DGCA Grants Permission To Use Drones To Settle Claims For Crop Insurance In 100 Districts
New Delhi, February 4, 2021: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved the Agriculture Ministry’s proposal to allow the use of drones to capture images in 100 rice and wheat growing districts to assess crop yields at gram panchayat level under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Private companies will use the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based remote sensing technology for data collection in agricultural areas of 100 districts.
“The use of UAV data will bring a new dimension to the scheme and ensure timely settlement of claims under it. It will also be useful for crop area estimation, losses due to local calamities and disasters, and to resolve yield disputes between different stakeholders under the scheme,” informed Union Agriculture Minister NS Tomar.
The Union minister also suggested that drone technology can also be used for other agricultural schemes in the country. “The use of high spatial resolution UAV data may also be explored in other agriculture-related schemes in India,” Tomar said.
The drone-based images will be captured in 10 states – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. The drones will be operated by shortlisted private agencies, as per reports.
What is the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana?
The PMFBY scheme is a crop insurance scheme provided by the Central government under which farmers in the country are provided financial assistance over crop damage due to natural calamities. The scheme was launched on January 13, 2016. The scheme covers crop damaged due to calamities like floods, storms, and heavy rains.
