Kuldeep chauhan 

Drones are set to soar up in the Himalayan skies. Drone air port and drone festival in Assam set new humming  tunes in the mountain warfare  checking exodus of illegal migrants from across the borders

Drones are set to soar up with their new  humming tunes  in the Himalayan skies,  delivering a slew of services ranging from keeping a tab on illegal migrants or putting off forest fires and delivering vaccines and relief material to the marooned victims.

Minister for state for road transport and Highways and civil aviation  Gen VK Singh today inaugurated the setting of the AXOM Droneport, India’s first drone airport in Guwahati  in the Himalayan state of Assam in Northeast that is set to chart a new course for drones   in the mountain war fare along  the borders to keep the terrorists and enemies under lens.

Indian Institute Technology,( IIT)  Guwahati is the centre for excellence for drones and artificial intelligence. It is also the venue of the Drone festival organized there for the first time,  showcasing  a bewildering range of drones to the visitors who are going viral on social media platforms. The new drone air port and  drone festival is all set to send the drone technology to the vertical take off, says Gen Singh. 

The drones are being used to deliver medicines and vaccines and relief material in the remote areas in Telangana and tribal belts in no time. The district disaster teams can use drones in dropping relief material in remote villages in Pangi, Lahaul-Spiti and Bharmour and Dodra Kuar in Shimla  during the six winter months, when valley get cut off from the rest of the world and movement by  road is not possible, says a disaster management official.   

Even the drones are being used to combat and check the growing menace of  massive forest fires  and multistoried building fires  mainly in the big  cities and village house fires in hills, spraying the fire fighting liquids to put them off more quickly than the standard fire tenders can do, claim a company manager. This can speed up evacuation and rescue operation by the disaster management teams.

There are apple orchardists or two using drone to drive the armies of preying bats and birds away  from the apple trees in apple belt of Shimla district. In social gathering, the photographers and movie makers are using drones to make movies and video of the marriages.  

The setting of the drone airport port has come as the  cutting edge technology  game changer  in strategically  significant Northeast  Himalayan region. It is aimed at to combat and counter not only the increasing  militarization  by China of the  Indo-China  disputed border, but also aimed at checking the influx of illegal migrants to Northeastern states from across the border from Maynmar and other countries that  spell communal trouble mainly in Assam, sources in the Ministry told  HImbuMail.

Drone technology has emerged as a brave new field   of artificial intelligence, but also a trend setter for the modern warfare mainly along the borders  from Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast to  Siachin glacier, world’s highest freezing battled field   and Daulat Beg Oldie in Ladakh and Nowshera Jammu and Kashmir in the  Himalaya down along the  border in Jaisalmer  in dry desert of Rajasthan to Andaman island.

What has prompted the government to speed up the research and development of drone and artificial intelligence technology is the fact that the terrorists and enemies across the borders are using unmanned drones not only to gather intelligence  and camaflauge  attacks,  but also  may use these high tech robots in targeting civilians to achieve bigger military  and other targets inside the country, comment the strategists.

Even the HP police have started using drones in monitoring traffic in the capital city of Shimla and in recruitment of the physical fitness where monitoring with manpower is not transparent. 

Considering its increasing widespread use, the nature and ecologists warn that the drones would drive away the birds and animals in the eco sensitive forest areas in particular and in other forest areas in general disturbing their free movement in the open environment. In times to come, drone use would need regulation so that these are not misused to create chaos and upset ecology, they say.      

(Kuldeep Chauhan is editor and administrator HimbuMail )