The government is well aware of the question of privacy in relation to the use of drones for the purpose of research, development and testing purposes, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, he also said that as such, the use of drones for the purpose of research, development and testing will not breach privacy as its use is restricted to concerned institutions and locations within the control of that entity only.
"The government is well aware about the question of privacy in relation to UAV/Drones for the purpose of research, development and testing purposes," he said.
UAV refers to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
While, requirements of type certificate, unique identification number, prior permission and remote pilot licence for operating unmanned aircraft systems have been waived for such purposes, the same is subject to certain restrictions.
In case of any contravention, Scindia said that Rule 49(4) of the Drone Rules regarding offences and compounding provides explicitly that the provisions of these rules shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of any other law, for the time being in force.
"This provision adequately covers all offences including breach of privacy covered under the relevant laws including the Information Technology Act, 2000 that has provisions for punishment for violation of privacy. Further, Indian Penal Code (IPC) also has provisions to penalize privacy-related offences such as 354 C (voyeurism), 354 D (Stalking) etc," he said.
Meanwhile, in a written reply, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said the government "continues to closely monitor the evolving situation" regarding the Covid situation.
"As per the prevailing Guidelines for International Arrivals issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (updated on 10th February 2023), preferable use of the masks in flights has been advised, in view of the present global and Indian situation of COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
The responses were to a query on whether there is any proposal to re-introduce mandatory provision of wearing masks in flights in view of increasing cases of H3N2 virus and COVID-19 cases.
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