Context:
Recently, The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation released a new policy on air sports in India.
Relevance:
GS II- Government policies and Interventions
Dimensions of the Article:
- About NASP 2022
- Key Objectives of NASP 2022
- What impact is the policy expected to have?
About NASP 2022:
NASP 2022 lays out the vision of making India as one of the top sports nations by 2030, by providing a safe, affordable, accessible, enjoyable and sustainable air sports ecosystem in India.
Air sports:
- Air sports, as the names suggests, encompasses various sports activities involving the medium of air.
- These include sports like air-racing, aerobatics, aero modeling, hang gliding, paragliding, para motoring and skydiving etc.
- India has the potential to be among the leading nations in the world of air sports.
- It has a large geographical expanse, diverse topography, and fair-weather conditions.
- It has a large population, especially the youth. It has a growing culture for adventure sports and aviation.
- The NASP 2022, is a step in this direction. It has been drafted based on the inputs received from policy makers, air sports practitioners and public at large and will ensure establishment of good quality of infrastructure, equipment, instructors and services.
The policy will cover the following air sports in India: –
- Aerobatics
- Aero modelling and model rocketry
- Amateur-built and experimental aircraft
- Ballooning
- Drones
- Gliding and powered gliding
- Hang gliding and powered hang gliding
- Parachuting (including skydiving, BASE jumping and wing suits etc.)
- Paragliding and para motoring (including powered parachute trikes etc.)
- Powered aircraft (including ultra light, micro light and light sports aircraft etc.)
- Rotorcraft (including autogyro)
Under the new policy, there will be four-tier governance structure for air sports in India namely
- Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI) as the apex governing body
- National associations for individual air sports or a set of air sports, as appropriate
- Regional (e.g. West/ South/ North East etc.) or State and Union Territory level units of the national air sports associations, as appropriate; and
- District-level air sports associations, as appropriate.
Key Objectives of NASP 2022:-
- Promote an air sports culture in the country
- Enable adoption of international good practices in safety including but not limited to, air sports infrastructure, equipment, operations, maintenance and training
- Develop a simple, stakeholder-friendly and effective governance structure
- Enhance participation and success of Indian sportspersons in global air sports events; and
- Promote design, development and manufacturing of air sports equipment in India in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
What impact is the policy expected to have?
- The Union government believes that India’s demographic dividend, of a young population, as well as its favourable climatic conditions can be leveraged to make India a top destination for air sports.
- Tourism, the development of support infrastructure, and eventual manufacturing of sporting goods used in air sports can lead to “economic multiplier” effects, the Civil Aviation minister said.
-Source: Indian Express
