“Earlier when my children used to fill up forms at school, they would write ‘housewife’ against their mother’s job description. Now, they write ‘drone pilot’. It fills me and my kids with such pride” – Monica Yadav from Karnal, Haryana

“People used to know me only by my husband’s name. But today, if you ask for drone didi, any person in the village can point out my residence” – Sita Devi from Katlaheri village, Haryana

“Being trained as a drone didi has increased my confidence and earnings.I used to be shy and couldn’t even cycle down my village fields. Today I fly a drone,” – Geeta Devi from Anchla village, Haryana.

The journey of Monica, Sita Devi and Geeta Devi from house-wives and daughters with no identity of their own to drone pilots with tech prowess has been a tough but rewarding one. They are among the many `Drone Didis’ who have benefitted both socially and financially from the government’s scheme.

The`Namo Drone Didi’ scheme announced in November 2023 by the Centre and a separate one by the Haryana government in August 2024, could bring in greater benefits if the drones they have been trained to operate were used to sprinkle nano-fertilisers, say the Didis.

“Stepping out of the house to go all the way to Gurgaon for training was not an easy decision,” admitted Geeta Devi while sharing her journey at the businessline ‘Agri and Commodity Summit, 2025’ in New Delhi on Friday.

Geeta was scared out of her wits when asked for her passport while filling the form as she remembered seeing movies where unsuspecting women were sent off to foreign lands. “When I realised that it was actually a good government scheme which would make me owner and operator of a drone, I took my family’s permission to enroll. I haven’t looked back since then,” she said.

Getting back to studying was quite difficult and exams had to be passed to get the drone operator certification, but I was determined not to fail, said Renu from Jindh. “Now a bigger challenge is to convince the villagers to shift from urea to nano-fertilisers as they think that it is not so effective.

If the government helps by giving greater subsidies, it would encourage farmers to switch and experience the benefits,” she said.

While the Drone Didis manage to supplement their families’ incomes by about ₹10,000 per month with their work, some villagers are still hesitant to allow them to work on their fields, pointed out Sita Devi adding that things are changing.

“There are big land owners who want to benefit from the scheme and own a drone. But they don’t want their women to go out of the house. Too bad they can’t benefit till they change their mentality,” shared Monica with a chuckle.