Key Terms & Concepts — UPSC Mains
Namo Drone Didi
"A central scheme that equips women self-help groups with agricultural drones to provide paid rental services to farmers"
Namo Drone Didi is a Central Sector Scheme under the Ministry of Rural Development and the Department of Fertilisers that provides drones to selected women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs) so they can offer rental services to farmers, chiefly the aerial spraying of liquid fertilisers and pesticides. Approved with an outlay of Rs 1,261 crore for 2023-24 to 2025-26, it aims to distribute drones to 15,000 women SHGs, giving rural women a technology-based livelihood and farmers access to efficient, precise spraying. SHGs receive 80% of the drone cost as subsidy, up to Rs 8 lakh.
Relevant for GS2 (women empowerment, self-help groups, welfare schemes) and GS3 (agriculture, technology adoption, precision farming). The scheme links women's economic empowerment with the modernisation of Indian agriculture and the government's Lakhpati Didi goal. It provides a concrete 2026 example of gender-responsive technology policy for both Prelims and Mains.
- 1 Central Sector Scheme with outlay Rs 1,261 crore for 2023-24 to 2025-26
- 2 Aims to provide drones to 15,000 women-led Self-Help Groups
- 3 SHGs get 80% subsidy on the drone and accessories, up to Rs 8 lakh; the rest via subsidised AIF loans
- 4 Drones used mainly for spraying liquid fertilisers and pesticides for farmers on rent
- 5 [object Object]
- 6 Expected to add at least Rs 1 lakh a year to each SHG's income
- 7 Supports the Lakhpati Didi initiative and precision, input-efficient farming
Under Namo Drone Didi, lead fertiliser companies had distributed several hundred agricultural drones to women self-help groups by 2026, enabling 'drone didis' to earn rental income from spraying while cutting farmers' input use.
