In the recent press conference, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Panic button will be mandatory for all mobile phones to be sold in India from January 1, 2017, to primarily enable users to make emergency call easily. Apart from that, in-built GPS navigation system would be mandatory for all phones a year later with effect from January 1, 2018,
This is exactly what Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a statement on Monday.
“Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women… from January 1, 2017, no cell phone can be sold without a provision for panic button and from January 1, 2018 mobile sets should have also GPS inbuilt,”
An official notification dated April 22, said, “With effect from January 1, 2017, no mobile phone handset manufactured company shall sell in India… Feature phones without the facility of panic button by pressing ‘Numeric key 5’ or ‘Numeric key 9’ to invoke emergency call”.
Further, it said that no smartphone should be sold in India without the facility of emergency call button. This button should function in a manner that by pressing the same for long time to invoke emergency call or the use of existing power on or off button, when short pressed thrice in quick succession.
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Currently, there are some apps available on Google Playstore which, which provides some security facilities for emergency conditions. One such app is “Panic button.io” ( Currently under Beta Stage ). It aims to send your emergency message/s to your trusted contacts when you need help. However, the app is not able to guarantee a response.
“With effect from January 1, 2018, no mobile phone handset manufactured company shall sell the new mobile phone handset in India without the facility of identifying the location through Satellite based GPS,” the notification said.
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