Govt sets up 2 task forces for making aircraft, UAVs

The government has set up two task force to prepare the roadmap for manufacturing aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles in India, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Monday.

Prabhu said in Lok Sabha that aviation has become a fast-growing sector in the country with the addition of new passengers every day, which may lead to procurement of thousands of aircraft in coming years.

With the aim to encouraging the aviation industry, two task forces have been constituted -- one to explore the possibility of manufacturing aircraft and the other on the manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles (Drones) in India, he said during the Question Hour.

Replying on a question on some countries trying to "dump" their products in India, the minister said the government has been conscious to any such situation and takes immediate action whenever necessary like adopting an anti-dumping policy to protect the domestic industry.

He cited the example of the steel industry where the government took an initiative to protect the domestic sector against the import of the metal from China.

Referring to the shortage of skilled workers in the country, Prabhu said to meet the skill requirement, the government has formulated the national policy on skill development and entrepreneurship in 2015 with the objective to meet the challenge of skilling at scale with speed and standard.

"In addition to laying down the objectives and expected outcomes, the effort is also to identify the various institutional frameworks which act as a vehicle to reach expected outcomes," he said.