Drones likely to monitor work on ground under rural jobs scheme

Wary of misuse of funds under the rural employment scheme, the Centre will soon deploy drones to monitor the on-ground implementation of projects being taken up under the scheme.

The rural development ministry will move a proposal seeking the Union Cabinet's approval.

Depending on the experience, monitoring of work using drones could be extended to other rural schemes as well. "The plan is to use drones across all schemes, including construction of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana and rural houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin and maintenance of rural roads," a senior government official told ET.


A pilot project is running in Gujarat to monitor the number of people working on the ground under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme vis-a-vis the wage payments made at the end of the job period, the official added.

The agriculture ministry is using drones for land surveys and spraying insecticides, apart from digitising land records.

Multiple instances of the actual number of workers on the ground being much less than the reported wage bill have come to light from several states, and effective monitoring will help curtail such irregularities, the official said.

Based on the learning from the pilot project, the rural development ministry will prepare the standard operating procedures to use drones for monitoring of its schemes, the official added. The ministry will also lay out the guidelines for the procurement, storage, operation and maintenance of the devices.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in her budget speech this year announced a 'Drone Shakti' project, to encourage startups to come up with varied applications for drones, including drones as a service.

The Centre has allocated ₹1,35,944.29 crore for the Department of Rural Development in 2022-23. More than half, or ₹73,000 crore, of this is earmarked for MGNREGA.