New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry on Saturday released a draft National Aerosports Policy (NASP 2022) to leverage India’s ‘huge’ potential for air sports given its large geographical expanse, diverse topography, and fair weather conditions. The draft policy, which has been on the drawing board for a year, aims to make India one of the top air sports nations by 203O.
The policy covers air sports activities such as air-racing, aerobatics, aeromodelling, hang gliding, paragliding, paramotoring, vintage aircraft, ballooning, drones and skydiving.
The government said that other than the direct revenue from air sports activities, the multiplier benefits in terms of growth of travel, tourism, infrastructure and local employment, especially in hilly areas of the country, are much greater.
According to the government, creating air sports hubs across the country will bring in air sports professionals and tourists from across the world.
“Air sports by their very nature involve a higher level of risk than flying a regular aircraft. NASP 2022 places a strong focus on ensuring international best practices in safety. Inability to enforce safety standards by an air sports association may lead to penal action by the ASFI against such association including financial penalties, suspension or dismissal,” said the draft document which has been placed in the public domain to seek feedback.
The draft NASP 2022 was prepared by a drafting committee comprising senior officials from the Centre, Indian Armed forces, Aero Club of India, National Cadet Corps, and air sports experts, It is being placed in the public domain to receive suggestions (latest by January 31, 2022) as India plans to bring out a NASP to promote the air sports sector.
The key objectives of NASP 2022 will include the promotion of an air sports culture in the country; adopting international best practices in safety including but not limited to, air sports infrastructure, equipment, operations, maintenance, and training; developing India as a preferred global hub for air sports and develop a simple, stakeholder-friendly and effective governance structure. The plan is also to develop and manufacture air sports equipment in India in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the draft policy says.
The draft paper says there is a plan to have a two-tier governance structure for air sports in India with the Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI) as the apex governing body and associations for each air sport for handling day to day activities like the Paragliding Association of India or Skydiving Association of India.
ASFI shall be an autonomous body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and represent India at FAI and other global platforms related to air sports. It will also provide governance over all aspects of air sports including but not limited to, regulation, certification, competitions, awards, and penalties.
The State Governments and Union Territories will endeavor to develop the necessary infrastructure and facilitate the promotion of air sports and tourism. This may include the development of new air sports centers, construction of new runways or repairing existing ones, development of new launch and landing pads; and financial support for events and training, etc.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) IOC is considering the inclusion of air sports in IOC-approved sporting events. All competitions in India will be conducted as per the guidelines laid down by the Switzerland-based Federation Aeronautique Internationale enabling the air sports associations to keep track of performances as per global norms, the draft paper said.
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