The Indian Government has decided that all mobile phones can be sold in the country with a panic button and GPS from January 1, 2017, and January 1, 2018, respectively.It aims to help improve security of women and increase accountability of the security forces as well.
“Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women?” said Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.
Essentially, phones will have to ensure the facility of the panic button by pressing numeric key — 5 or numeric key 9 — to enable an emergency call. On smartphones, the order says that a customer should be able to make an emergency call by pressing either a special panic button for a long time, or use the existing power button to do the same by pressing it thrice in quick succession.
The new rules were announced by India's telecom ministry to improve safety for women. While the numeric keys 5 and 9 will be used for panic buttons in feature phones, smartphone manufactures will have to introduce a new button or feature to send emergency alerts.
All manufactures, including Apple and Samsung, will have to abide by the new rules and introduce this software updates for phones sold in India. Smartphone users should be able to make an emergency call by pressing the panic button for a long time, or by pressing the power on and off button in quick succession three times.
The feature had been first proposed by India’s minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi last year, with Gandhi calling for the introduction of physical panic button on mobile phones last year.
Yet, the Indian government’s new measure will make emergency assistance available to a much bigger number of women and in a much more convenient way.
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