Govt may allow private air traffic controllers to manage drones in lower airspace
Bengaluru, Feb 3: The government is considering allowing air traffic controllers, operated by private entities, to manage drone operations in the Indian airspace below 1,000 feet, said a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official on Wednesday.
"The drone ATC (air traffic controller) will be called UTM (unmanned traffic management) and it will collaborate with the manned traffic management, which is being handled currently as a sovereign function by the Airports Authority of India (AAI)," said Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The AAI, which works under the ministry, manages all manned aircraft operations in the Indian airspace. A passenger aircraft generally flies at a height of around 30,000 feet.
"The airspace below 1,000 feet is lower airspace and it would be the main playground of drones. For that, we may have a system of private ATCs, which would be managed by private operators," Dubey said at a session organised by industry body FICCI at Aero India 2021.
"It could be a government agency or a private agency, it is something that would evolve," he added.
The AAI cannot handle drones because they would be flying at 5 feet to take care of crops to about 1,000 feet in the airspace, Dubey mentioned.
Drone technology is moving way faster than the regulations so we have decided that we need to start a parallel activity, he said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Gold hits new high, 10 grams of 24-carat touches Rs 1 lakh in Karnataka
Bengaluru: Gold prices in Karnataka have surged to a historic high, with ten grams of 24-carat gold crossing the Rs 1 lakh mark in Bengaluru. Market insiders opined that the trend is likely to continue upward.
As of Monday morning, gold was priced at Rs 10,200 per gram for 24-carat and Rs 9,285 for 22-carat in Bengaluru, excluding GST and additional charges such as making and wastage, as reported by The New Indian Express.
The steep rise comes ahead of Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on April 30 this year, a day considered highly auspicious for purchasing gold and silver.
“The rate of gold is escalating due to prevailing global uncertainty and the US dollar’s continued slide. Historically, gold has been a safe investment. It allows for easy liquidation—no other medium offers that kind of leverage,” TNIE quoted Suresh Kumar Ganna, former president of The Jewellers’ Association, Bengaluru as saying.
He added that in just four months, the price of gold, which was around Rs 75,000 for 10gm, has jumped by over Rs 25,000.
Dinesh Pagaria, Managing Director of JJJ Jewellers Private Limited, noted that gold prices have nearly tripled in six years. “Ten grams of 24-carat gold was within Rs 35,000 in 2019. Now, in 2025, the rate has tripled, standing at around Rs 1,03,000 lakh, excluding GST and other charges,” TNIE quoted Pagaria as saying.
Explaining the recent spike, Pagaria said that they are hearing from gold traders that China is aggressively buying gold and increasing their gold reserves. “They are converting their dollar reserves into gold,” he said.
He described gold as the “only trustworthy global currency,” predicting that prices could jump another 25 percent within the year.
