National Air Sports Policy

National Air Sports Policy

News: The Union ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) announced the country’s first national air sports policy (NASP 2022).
• It has been launched to improve the state of aero sports in India, with a vision to make India a hub for air sports in the world by 2030.
• It aims to provide a safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable air sports ecosystem in India.

Key Highlights of the Policy
• It proposes a Four-Tier Governance Structure; it includes:
• Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI) as the apex governing body
• National Associations for individual air sports
• Regional or state and union territory level units of the national air sports associations
• District level air sports associations

Air Sports Federation of India
• The ASFI will be an autonomous body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and will represent India at the Lausanneheadquartered Fédération Aéronaautique Internationale (FAI) and other global platforms related to air sports.
• It will be chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.
• It will provide governance over various aspects of air sports, including regulation, certification, competitions, awards and penalties, etc.

Rules and Functions of each air sports association
• Lay down its safety standards for equipment, infrastructure, personnel and training, and specify the disciplinary actions to be taken in case of non-compliance. Inability to do so may lead to penal action by the ASFI.

Coverage
• It will cover 13 air sports activities like aerobatics, aeromodelling, amateur-built and experimental aircraft, ballooning, drones, gliding, hang gliding, paragliding, microlighting, paramotoring, skydiving, and vintage aircraft.

Importance of the Policy:
• Besides the revenue from air sports activities, multiplier benefits in terms of growth in travel, tourism, infrastructure and local employment, especially in hilly areas of the country, are much greater.
• Creating air sports hubs across the country will bring in air sports professionals and tourists from across the world.