Governing the Drone Era in Modern India: A Comprehensive Constitutional, Legal, Technological, Security and Socio-Economic Study with Comparative Insights from the USA, UK and European Union

In the past decade, India’s drone policy has changed gear twice. The near-total prohibition of 2014 gave way to a policy of outright promotion in 2021, and the draft Civil Drone (Promotion and Regulation) Bill, 2025 now signals a move towards control and criminal punishment. This paper considers whether the Indian framework, as it stands and as proposed, withstands constitutional scrutiny and whether it has the capacity to address the security, technological and social issues raised by drones. It reads the Drone Rules, 2021 and the draft Bill against Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, examines the gap between the civil aviation regime and counter-drone security, and evaluates programmes in agriculture, land records and health delivery. The comparative part focuses on the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The paper argues that liberalisation and indigenisation have been a success for India, but that State surveillance, counter-drone authority and proportionate enforcement have received far too little attention. It proposes a risk-based classification in place of the present weight-based classification, an independent statutory code for State drone surveillance, and a recalibrated penalty system.