NEW DELHI: Exactly two months after a Malaysia Airlines ’ aircraft ( MH 370 ) went missing, India has made it mandatory for all its planes to be tracked from departure to arrival.The directorate general of civil aviation’s ( DGCA ) new rule is applicable to both for passenger and cargo aircraft “in view of the difficulties faced in search and rescue operations after an aircraft goes missing or meets with an accident”.Malaysian ministry of transport’s initial probe into MH 370 that went missing on March 8 while on a schedule flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board says that “the location of wreckage is still unknown due to the fact that there is no real time tracking of the aircraft.” After this revelation, the DGCA decided to make real time tracking mandatory here.“Air transport operators have now been asked to use onboard aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS) /automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) for this purpose and they have to ensure their serviceability before every departure. Operators have also been advised to devise a procedure for effective tracking of the aircraft while flying over areas where there is no coverage of ACARS/ADS-B,” the DGCA rule says.During the last five years, there have been two occasions when large commercial transport aircrafts went missing and their last position was not accurately known. While commercial air transport aircrafts spend considerable amount of time operating over remote areas, there is currently no international requirement for real time tracking of the aircraft. This uncertainty resulted in difficulty in locating the aircraft in a timely manner in both the cases.These incidents and the recent Malaysian tragedy prompted the DGCA to take necessary action.