Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, June 12, 2026, praised the growing role of Indian women in science, space, and innovation, singling out drone technology as a transformative new frontier for female participation in the country's development story.

In his post on X, the Prime Minister said he was 'particularly happy to see India's Nari Shakti make a mark in sectors like science, space and innovation,' adding that women's entry into drone technology was 'opening new avenues of opportunity and transforming development landscape across the nation.'

Context

The phrase Nari Shakti — literally 'women's power' — has been a recurring motif in the current government's public communication on gender empowerment. Modi's remarks come as women scientists and technologists have gained increasing visibility in flagship national programmes, from ISRO's deep-space missions to grassroots agriculture-technology initiatives.

Women held key operational and scientific roles in ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 mission launched in July 2019, drawing national attention to female talent in space research. That visibility has since been invoked repeatedly in policy advocacy for broadening girls' access to STEM education and careers.

Policy Backdrop

The government's push for female participation in emerging technology sectors rests on several interlocking policy pillars. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, launched in January 2015, was designed to arrest a declining child sex ratio and ensure girls remain in education long enough to access professional pathways.

The Drone Rules 2021, notified by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in August 2021, liberalised the regulatory environment for unmanned aerial vehicles, explicitly creating space for new categories of operators — including women pilots in agriculture, logistics, and infrastructure surveying. The Department of Science and Technology has run dedicated programmes such as Vigyan Jyoti and KIRAN to channel girls into research careers from the school stage onward.

Together these measures form part of the broader Atmanirbhar Bharat framework, which positions inclusive innovation — drawing in women, rural communities, and first-generation professionals — as central to self-reliant economic growth.

Stakeholders and Impact

The constituencies most directly addressed by the Prime Minister's remarks include women in STEM fields, female drone operators, and rural women entrepreneurs who have taken up drone-based services in agriculture and land surveying. State governments have been encouraged to roll out women drone-pilot training programmes under the Drone Rules framework, creating a pipeline from certification to commercial deployment.

Advocates for gender equity in technology have noted that public recognition from the highest office carries symbolic weight that can influence institutional hiring, scholarship allocation, and parental attitudes toward girls' education in science-oriented streams. The development-delivery dimension is equally significant: drones operated by women have been deployed in disaster management, crop-health monitoring, and infrastructure inspection in remote areas.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether the Prime Minister's statement is followed by concrete allocations — expanded seats in drone-pilot certification programmes for women, new tranches of funding under Vigyan Jyoti, or dedicated female participation targets in upcoming ISRO missions. State-level implementation of women-centric drone training under the Drone Rules 2021 framework remains a key metric to watch. The government's ability to convert high-profile rhetorical endorsement into measurable workforce outcomes will determine whether Nari Shakti in science and technology moves from aspiration to documented achievement.