Responsibility and Accountability in the Governance of Civilian UAV for Crop Insurance Applications in India

Abstract

In an attempt to govern civilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for crop insurance applications, the paper is considering the risk and challenges associated with the emerging technology to be deployed in Indian agriculture, which is again highly diversified with varied physical features and socio-cultural practices of the agriculture community. These issues of governance concerning accountability and responsibility of actors and institutions are leading research problems of the study and would be addressed as research questions - How are the challenges of governance of civilian UAV innovations in crop insurance application can be addressed? How can the responsibility and accountability of the actors ensure effective governance? As such, the paper draws empirical results from in-depth interviews carried out as a part of the primary survey based on snowball sampling technique. Accordingly, the paper advances in adhering to the responsible deployment of the technology and ushering accountability in governance to enhance civil UAV innovations in the crop insurance application. Besides, institutional arrangements which help proper regulations of the technology, upholding values such as transparency, trust, privacy, effectiveness and efficiency can enhance an effective governance structure for civil UAV innovations in crop insurance applications.