All the mobile handsets that will be sold in India from the next year that is January 2017 will feature a panic button allowing women in distress to look for help. In addition, all mobile phones that will be launched from January 2018 must have in-built GPS facility to identify the user’s location. These were notifications released by the Department of Telecommunications.
Technology is meant to ease the life of humans in a better way. Nothing is better than using technology for the safety and security of women, stated Ravi Shankar Prasad, the communications and IT minister. He added that he has taken a decision that all cell phones launched from January 1, 2017 will have a panic button and from January 1, 2018, all the phones will have in-built GPS.
In the feature phone handsets, the number keys 5 and 9 are identified as the push buttons during an emergency. In the smartphones, the manufacturers should provide an emergency button or any other facility. On pressing the power on or off button three times in quick succession or the emergency button, the user can send an alert message.
The government is of the idea that emergency response applications can take a long time to access in a rush. It will be quicker and simpler to configure any existing buttons on a phone for this task. This is a part of the many measures that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to ensure the safety of women.
Last December, Maneka Gandhi, the Women and Child Development Minister announced that all manufacturers were onboard for this purpose. But, it remains unclear if the makers such as Apple will follow the same. These new rules are mandatory for all the companies and those manufacturers who do not adhere to it shall not sell their mobile devices in the country.
