As India goes under a 21 days lockdown in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the economy has come to a standstill. Barring essential services, movement of goods and people have been restricted, causing severe disruption in the country.

Thanks to information technology and the internet, we have an army of delivery agents who put their lives in danger to ensure that we get our food and supplies from the stores. Similarly, we have the police force, which although ill-equipped to deal with such a pandemic, is ensuring that people comply with the restrictions that have been put in place. All these ancillary front line soldiers are at a higher risk of contracting the virus due to increased exposure. Once all this has settled, we need to ponder as to how useful drones could have been in such a scenario.

Although India had imposed a blanket ban on operation of drones since 2014, it came out with its first drone policy in August 2018. Though it was a great leap for India, it fell short for the commercial sector, since it only permitted drone operations within the “visual line of sight” or VLOS, i.e. the regulations mandated that the drone must always be visible to the eyes of the operator. All this resulted in making it impossible for drones to be used for delivery purposes.

In January 2019, a whitepaper on drone policy was released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, wherein it was contemplated that “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” or BVLOS operations could also be allowed in the country for more extensive applications such as the delivery of goods and / or food etc. In the same year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) invited companies to participate in a regulatory sandbox, wherein seven selected companies were asked to demonstrate their BVLOS capabilities and their applications. The demonstrations have already taken place, and it will involve multiple rounds of consultation before the DGCA concludes whether to permit BVLOS operations or not. In the meanwhile, the lockdown has again highlighted the potential of drones and other unmanned autonomous systems and their applicability in our daily lives.

More and more countries are now shifting to drones to make parcel deliveries. Last year, France allowed delivery of parcels by drones since they were considered to be more reliable, quicker and safer. Similarly, the United States Postal Service is also considering drones for supplementing its mail delivery fleet. Use of drones in such scenarios has its benefits. Firstly, since drones are electrically powered, they reduce the use of fossil fuels, further due to this they also do not emit carbon and thus, are environmentally friendly. Similarly, drones can also be used to deliver medicines, food or other supplies to places, which have become unserviceable due to blockage or any other issue.

Moreover, once BVLOS operations are permitted, drones can also be used for provision of ambulance services or as a first responder in times of distress. In fact, in the year 2014, a Dutch student had developed a prototype drone ambulance, which could cut crucial minutes in response time and thus, increase the prospect of saving lives. Recently, in July 2018, the City of Brussels in Belgium started the “Take Care Emergency” project, aimed at exploring the use of drones in medical emergencies especially in cases of cardiac arrest, where drones can be used to rush defibrillators to the victim. This has also been contemplated in India by individual State Governments (like the state of Telangana) in partnership with local hospitals. However, the need of the hour is a concerted effort from the Union Government so that every Indian can avail the benefits of drones.

During pandemics, like the one we are going through currently, fumigation of residential quarters becomes imperative as a preventive measure. As of now, such a task is carried out by the staff of the local municipality or an organisation, to whom it has been outsourced. Drones are a much more viable option for such tasks, since, firstly they don’t expose the operator to the virus as he or she is not physically present. Secondly, drones are more manoeuvrable, thereby covering portions, which may be left out during normal procedures.

Further, as the entire country is in lockdown and all public transport has been brought to a halt. Drones (larger ones) present a new opportunity to ensure that staff of corporations, where “work from home” is not compatible or possible, can be transported using a drone/autonomous air taxis. What comes to mind is a German company called Volocopter, which specialises in the design and manufacture of such autonomous air taxis. Although it looks futuristic, this cutting-edge technology has great potential during such uncertain times.

Finally, in the wake of COVID-19, if we had BVLOS rules in place, drones could have been used by delivery apps like Zomato, Swiggy etc. for delivering food without risking (although they are trying their best to mitigate the risk within the available resources) the delivery partner or the final consumer.

Thus, its high time that we finally allow BVLOS operations of drones because nothing is more expensive than an opportunity lost.