From 2017, all mobile phones in India must be equipped with a “panic button”

Rape is committed approximately every 30 minutes in India. In 2014, 337,000 crimes against women were recorded. This figure, compared with the previous year, grew by 9.2%, so the government decided that from 2017 all mobile phones should be equipped with a panic button.

“When the alarm button is pressed, the phone will alert the police and specially selected user friends / relatives for immediate response in case of danger,” said Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
')
In smartphones, such a function will be activated by quick triple pressing the device's power button, and in ordinary phones by pressing the 5 or 9 button.

According to the Minister for Maternity and Childhood Maneki Sanjay Gandhi , such a button is likely to be a deterrent to potential criminals. The task of the government is to ensure that by next year, current users have access to the functionality of the “panic button” without buying new phones, cio.com reports .

Gandhi said that she would work with cell phone providers, so that firmware patches will be available for download, and in some vendor stores you can program push-button phones so that they can send emergency calls.

Also, from January 2018, mobile phones will need to have built-in GPS systems to help locate the affected person in case of a chase or danger.

Over the past few years, there has been a significant growth in the smartphone market in the country. India in 2015 became the second country in the world, after China, with more than 1 billion people using mobile services. However, Pankai Mohindro, president of the Association of Indian Cellular Communications, said that the new measures will reduce the availability of smartphones for poor Indians.

The association says that installing GPS in a smartphone will increase consumer spending from 266 to 400 rupees ($ 4-6), which is a problem when you consider that the average wage in the country is about 270 rupees per day.