How ‘NaMo Drone Didis’ are pushing past their limitations & transforming India’s rural landscapes

• The ‘NaMo Drone Didi Initiative’ was announced by the PM on 15 August last year to train 15,000 women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the use of agricultural drones.

NaMo Drone Didi

• It is a name given to women drone pilots who have been trained under the government’s ‘NaMo Drone Didi Initiative’.

Objective

• It is aimed at training and equipping 15,000 women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs) with agricultural drones.
• The idea is to offer farmers assistance in agricultural operations, such as crop monitoring, spraying fertilizers, and sowing seeds
  • Thus helping rural women achieve self-sufficiency while simultaneously making the sector less labour-intensive.
• Once they finish the course, these women get the Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC)
• the certification required to fly drones, from the DGCA and can take up assignments as ‘Drone Didis’.
• The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) has been part of the NaMo Drone Didi Scheme since its inception.
  • It is a farmer-owned fertilizer collective and India’s largest fertilizer company.
• IFCCO produces two major fertilizers — nano urea and nano DAP

Prelims takeaway

• IFCCO
• Drone Didis