“This indeed is the fundamental difference between the two countries,” said Union Minister for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh
NEW DELHI, Nov 28 (The CONNECT) - Drone carries explosives to spread terror and threaten human lives, while the Indian drone has assumed the role of a COVID warrior to carry life saving Vaccine and life-saving medicines for safety and well-being of mankind.
“This indeed is the fundamental difference between the two countries,” said Union Minister for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh.
He was launching the Drone-driven aerial delivery facility to transport COVID vaccine as well as Emergency Medicines to inaccessible areas.
Referring to the first consignment of 50 vials of COVID vaccine which was dropped by the Drone near the International Border (IB) in Marh area, Dr Singh said, the "Octacopter" Drone which was developed indigenously at Bengaluru at the initiative of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under the Ministry of Science & Technology, is truly a messenger of peace, while Pakistan is using Drone to disrupt peace.
The Indian Drone has carried to the International Border the message of protecting lives from COVID and, ensuring health and well being for everybody.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India's Vaccination drive has turned into a mass campaign and every citizen is trying to make an appropriate contribution to it. "We, in the Ministry of Science & Technology, also decided to join Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign by developing a Drone which would reach households in far-flung and difficulty areas which lack means of transport and thus the Drone would perform the function of knocking at the door of every home to ensure that not a single person remains without vaccination", he added.
Dr Singh formally handed over the first consignment of COVID vaccine to Drone operators, who then mounted the same on the Drone which it took off for its air journey.
The Minister said that the successful aerial delivery of Covid-19 vaccine from CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu to Government Sub-District Hospital, Marh, Jammu, shows the commitment of the Modi Government towards healthcare needs of the masses in remote areas.
The road distance from Jammu to Marh is about 15 km and it takes 50 to 60 minutes to drive, but the Octacopter delivered the vaccine within 20 minutes. This will go a long way in fulfilling Prime Minister’s “Har Ghar Dastak” campaign for special house-to-house Covid-19 vaccination drive, he said.
CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL) has developed indigenous, medium class BVLOS multi-copter UAV. The UAV is made out of light weight carbon fiber foldable structure for ease of transportation and has unique features like autonomous guidance through dual redundant MEMS based digital Autopilot with advanced flight instrumentation systems. NAL Octacopter is integrated with Powerful onboard embedded computer and latest generation sensors for versatile applications like agricultural pesticide spraying, crop monitoring, mining survey, magnetic geo survey mapping etc.
Drone technology, now inexpensive and accessible, is continuously evolving and being put to several novel uses around the world. Drones are increasingly finding applications in Geography mapping, Disaster management, Precision agriculture, Search and rescue operations, etc., more importantly in drone-based medicine distribution systems.
