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The govt is normalising drone use, one step at a time

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…

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