Six years ago, the Indian government had banned the use of drones, calling them a security threat. Today, drones are being pressed into all sorts of applications, including capturing aerial images of “critical infrastructure” facilities such as thermal power plants — considered crucial for the nation’s economy and security. So, what prompted this seismic shift in the government’s attitude? Why does the government trust drones so much now?

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic saw drones dotting skylines of several Indian states — Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala and Telangana, to name a few — to surveil streets and ensure that people were not violating lockdown guidelines. Drones of various capabilities were deployed. In Amritsar for instance, drones were equipped with an AI-based software that was capable of detecting the distance between two human beings, from 400 feet away. In Telangana, drones were equipped with thermal cameras to be able to detect people’s temperatures. The efficacy of these solutions is unclear, and questionable, but again, it also symbolises the idea of tech solutionism — the idea that tech is the answer to everything.

Even before the pandemic, drones were used as a surveillance tools on a number of occasions, and for varied purposes —  to surveil protests, and even polling booths during elections — and the government is already planning to start remote drone operations which open up use cases such as surveilling far off places, and making deliveries.

The idea behind these moves seems simple: make drones so ubiquitous that people simply get used to them.

Recent deployment of drones by government bodies

Four different government institutions — only in October — were allowed to deploy drones for various purposes, including thermal power plants operated by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

Eye in the sky

Even though the actual benefits of using drones are yet to be established, the government has used it not just for COVID-related activities, but to track and surveil people, upon sensing a ‘law and order’ disharmony:

These are only a handful of examples, but they are enough to prove that the government believes drones are a practical and realistic way to keep an eye on its citizens. But there are problems: (i) we don’t know what kind of data was captured by these drones, and (ii) how administrations might potentially use this data.

The government is also busy facilitating the development of a drone ecosystem in the country. People who want to fly these drones — known as “drone pilots” — will be able to get training at special schools being set up by both government bodies and private drone companies. There are also guidelines for drone insurance.

Govt bodies are preferring Indian made drones: There has been a notable trend in permits granted for drone usage since July. Since the escalation of tensions between India and China at their border, drones made by the Chinese company DJI — which sells the most commonly-available drones in India — have not been chosen for use at government-owned facilities. In July, the government had allowed the Indian Oil Corporation to use DJI-made drones for aerial surveillance of its pipelines. This was the last time — since then, no government organisation has gone with DJI’s drones and have instead opted for Indian-made ones.

Legitimising drones in the absence of safeguards

There is almost no public oversight when it comes to the use of drones in India. This is largely because of the absence of laws that govern personal data, and a lack of transparency from government bodies that are using these devices. For instance, when MediaNama filed an RTI asking the Delhi police about its use of drones to monitor CAA protests in December 2019, we got a surprising answer — the Delhi police told us it never used drones for this purpose.

Parallels to facial recognition technology

Similar to drones, facial recognition technology systems too are being widely deployed by the Indian government, several state governments and police departments. The National Crime Records Bureau is currently working towards building a national facial recognition system, and only very recently revealed that it wants to tests the system on mask-wearing faces, and generate “comprehensive biometric reports”. A number of airports in the country have introduced facial recognition based boarding solutions. The private sector too has joined this party: we had reported that popular tea chain Chaayos had deployed a facial recognition system, and was initially running it while not even mentioning how it uses facial data anywhere in its privacy policy.

MediaNama has prepared an exhaustive guide to the drone industry in India, encompassing regulations, use cases, concerns around privacy and surveillance, and the way forward for the industry. The guide is available here.