{"id":611502,"date":"2024-03-06T12:30:01","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/indias-drone-sisters-steer-farming-and-social-change\/"},"modified":"2024-03-06T12:30:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T09:30:01","slug":"indias-drone-sisters-steer-farming-and-social-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/indias-drone-sisters-steer-farming-and-social-change\/","title":{"rendered":"#India&#8217;s &#8216;drone sisters&#8217; steer farming and social change"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3d82eb9dc52\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3d82eb9dc52\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/indias-drone-sisters-steer-farming-and-social-change\/#Patriarchal_attitudes\" >Patriarchal attitudes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/indias-drone-sisters-steer-farming-and-social-change\/#%E2%80%98My_own_two_feet\" >&#8216;My own two feet&#8217;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2024\/sharmila-yadav-a-remot.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2024\/sharmila-yadav-a-remot.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Sharmila Yadav, a remote pilot trained under the &quot;Drone Sister&quot; program, operates a drone spraying liquid fertilizer over a farm in Pataudi, India.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2024\/sharmila-yadav-a-remot.jpg\" alt=\"Sharmila Yadav, a remote pilot trained under the &quot;Drone Sister&quot; programme, operates a drone spraying liquid fertiliser over a farm in Pataudi, India\" title=\"Sharmila Yadav, a remote pilot trained under the &quot;Drone Sister&quot; program, operates a drone spraying liquid fertilizer over a farm in Pataudi, India.\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Sharmila Yadav, a remote pilot trained under the &#8220;Drone Sister&#8221; program, operates a drone spraying liquid fertilizer over a farm in Pataudi, India.<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Once a housewife in rural India, Sharmila Yadav always wanted to be a pilot and is now living her dream remotely, flying a heavy-duty drone across the skies to cultivate the country&#8217;s picturesque farmlands.<\/p>\n<section class=\"article-banner first-banner ads-336x280\"><!-- \/4988204\/Phys_Story_InText_Box --><br \/>\n      <\/section>\n<p>Yadav, 35, is among hundreds of women trained to fly fertilizer-spraying aircraft under the government-backed &#8220;Drone Sister&#8221; program.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme aims to help modernize Indian farming by reducing labor costs, as well as saving time and water in an industry hamstrung by its reliance on outdated <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> and growing climate change challenges.<\/p>\n<p>It is also a portent of rural India&#8217;s changing attitudes towards working women, who have traditionally found few opportunities to join the labor force and are often stigmatized for doing so.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Earlier, it was difficult for women to step out of the house. They were supposed to do only household chores and look after the children,&#8221; mother-of-two Yadav told AFP, after a day&#8217;s work crisscrossing a drone through the clear blue sky above a lush green field of young wheat stalks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Women who went out for work were looked down upon. They were taunted for neglecting their motherly duties. But now mindsets are changing gradually.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yadav was a homemaker for 16 years after marrying her farmer husband, with few job opportunities for women in her small rural hamlet near the town of Pataudi, a few hours&#8217; drive from the capital New Delhi.<\/p>\n<p>She will pocket 50,000 rupees ($600) after spraying 150 acres (60 hectares) of farmland twice over five weeks, a little over double the average monthly income in her native Haryana state.<\/p>\n<p>But she said her new occupation was not just a &#8220;source of income&#8221; for her.&#8221;I feel very proud when someone calls me a pilot. I have never sat in a plane, but I feel like I am flying one now,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Patriarchal_attitudes\"><\/span>Patriarchal attitudes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Yadav is among the first batch of 300 women trained by the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), the largest manufacturer of chemical fertilizers in the country.<\/p>\n<p>The women trained as pilots are given the 30-kilogram (66-pound) drones for free, along with battery-run vehicles to transport them.<\/p>\n<p>Other fertilizer companies have also joined the program, which aims to train 15,000 &#8220;drone sisters&#8221; across the country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This scheme is not just about employment but also empowerment and rural entrepreneurship,&#8221; Yogendra Kumar, the marketing director of IFFCO, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Women, who earlier could not step out of their houses owing to deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes and lack of opportunities, are coming forward with enthusiasm to take part,&#8221; he told AFP.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2024\/aspiring-drone-pilots.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2024\/aspiring-drone-pilots.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspiring drone pilots attend a class under the Indian government-backed &quot;Drone Sister&quot; program.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img text-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2024\/aspiring-drone-pilots.jpg\" alt=\"Aspiring drone pilots attend a class under the Indian government-backed &amp;quot;Drone Sister&amp;quot; programme\" title=\"Aspiring drone pilots attend a class under the Indian government-backed &quot;Drone Sister&quot; program.\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-left text-darken text-truncate text-low-up mt-3\">\n                Aspiring drone pilots attend a class under the Indian government-backed &#8220;Drone Sister&#8221; program.<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;They are now able to meet the household expenses on their own without depending on others.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kumar said that spraying fertilizer by drone was cost-effective, used less water and took a fraction of the time of manual spraying.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One acre can be sprayed in just five to six minutes,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>A little over 41 percent of rural Indian women are in the formal workforce compared to 80 percent of rural men, according to a government survey last year.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has championed the scheme and mentioned it in his annual Independence Day address last August, said he was pleased to see women at the forefront of a revolutionary new farming practice.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Who would have thought until a few years ago that in our country women living in villages too would fly drones? But today this is becoming possible,&#8221; he said in a radio program last month.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98My_own_two_feet\"><\/span>&#8216;My own two feet&#8217;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Women have to pass an interview before they are enrolled in the program.<\/p>\n<p>They then sit a written test after a weeklong theory course before another week of practical training.<\/p>\n<p>In one of the classrooms welcoming a fresh batch of pilots, 23-year-old Rifat Ara said she was initially <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>rehensive about enrolling.<\/p>\n<p>But once she learned the ropes, she said there was no looking back.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel I can now earn something and also teach other women how to fly,&#8221; she told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a great feeling to be able to stand on my own two feet and be called a drone pilot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nisha Bharti, an instructor for training school Drone Destination, said she had been heartened by watching the transformation of her pupils as they mastered their craft.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When they first come here from the villages, they are so nervous. But by the time they finish the course, they become super confident,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is as if they grow wings and want to fly higher and higher.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n                                                  \u00a9 2024 AFP\n                                             <\/p>\n<p>                                        <!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>                                                <strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n                                                India&#8217;s &#8216;drone sisters&#8217; steer farming and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> change (2024, March 6)<br \/>\n                                                retrieved 6 March 2024<br \/>\n                                                from https:\/\/phys.org\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2024-03-india-drone-sisters-farming-social.html<\/p>\n<p>                                             This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n                                             part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2024-03-india-drone-sisters-farming-social.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sharmila Yadav, a remote pilot trained under the &#8220;Drone Sister&#8221; program, operates a drone spraying liquid fertilizer over a farm in Pataudi, India. Once a housewife in rural India, Sharmila Yadav always wanted to be a pilot and is now living her dream remotely, flying a heavy-duty drone across the skies to cultivate the country&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":611503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2024\/sharmila-yadav-a-remot.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-611502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}