In an endeavour to strengthen women’s safety, Government of India has passed a new ordinance. Effective 2017, all mobile handsets sold in India will be compulsorily ordered to include a ‘physical panic button’. In addition to that, effective 2018, all mobile handsets will also require an in-built Global Positioning System (GPS) as a mandate.
The policy was announced by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Telecommunications in April 2016.
How this will work
On pressing the panic button, a notification alert will be directly sent to police and close members of the person chosen by the user.
For feature phones (basic phones that lack advanced functionalities): A numeric key will be the facilitator. On pressing either 5 or 9 numeric key an emergency call will be facilitated.
For smartphones: The trigger will be enabled by either pressing the power button three times (in a quick succession) or by pressing a special panic button.
Any mobile devices that have been sold prior to 2017 can be upgraded at the respective service centres.
The new rule will mean a lot of feature phones won’t be considered official and will need to undergo a rehaul. With regards to smartphones, the government demands either a devoted panic button or simply the power button to enable this facility. It is highly unrealistic for major smartphone manufacturers to add a new button just for one country.
While there are smartphone apps which already serve this purpose, not every woman in this country can afford a smartphone.
All in all, it’s a welcome move since such a feature will only be beneficial to users in times of crisis.
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