Helicopter Services in India: Evidence from Northeastern States
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00195561221090764 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Helicopter Services
in India: Evidence from
Northeastern States*
S.N. Tripathi1, V.N. Alok1 and
Pradeep Kumar Panda1
Abstract
The helicopter service in Northeast (NE) India was introduced in 1992–1993
to provide connectivity to passengers in remote areas of the region and with
other states and union territories of India at affordable cost. It also intended
to evacuate people during natural calamities and medical emergencies. By the
year 2021, the helicopter services were operational in seven NE states, namely,
Arunachal Pradesh (1995), Sikkim (1998), Meghalaya (1999), Tripura (2002),
Nagaland (2007), Mizoram (2012) and Manipur (2018). The article intends to
examine the efficiency and usefulness of the helicopter scheme in the North
Eastern Region, to find out the extent to which the scheme has facilitated con-
nectivity for different layers of end-users and to identify the key bottlenecks and
challenges faced during the implementation of the scheme. With positivist frame
of evaluation, both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used
for data collection and analysis. The study was conducted in seven states, and
a total of 384 respondents was sampled. During the period 2016–2017, 2017–
2018 and 2018–2019, the budget sanctioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs for
the scheme was `86 crore, `86 crore and `90 crore, respectively, which had
been fully utilised by the state governments. During 2019–2020, `100 crore was
sanctioned, and the entire amount was utilised. The budget amount was reduced
to `42 crore in the year 2020–2021. From 2016–2017 to 2019–2020, the overall
efficiency in Northeastern Region was a positive trend; although, it declined in
2018–2019 due to a significant decline in the number of passengers in Nagaland
and Sikkim despite a marginal decline in the input variable, that is, number of fly-
ing hours. Among the sampled beneficiaries, women’s participation was 22%, SCs
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
68(4) 527–541, 2022
© 2022 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561221090764
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* The article is drawn heavily upon an evaluation report by the authors on Central Sector Scheme on
Helicopter Services in North Eastern Region, submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government
of India in December 2020.
1 Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
V.N. Alok, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indraprastha Estate, Ring
Road, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi, Delhi 110002, India.
E-mail: vnalok@gmail.com
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