All new mobiles to have panic button from 2017

According to a notification issued recently by the Department of Telecom, “from January 2018, mobile handset manufactures will be able to sell their products in India only if the product has the emergency feature that enables identifying the location through satellite-based GPS.”

• These rules are called the panic button and Global Positioning System facility in all mobile handsets Rules, 2016. They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 

What else is there in the notification?

• The notification says that effective January 2017, mobile phones without facility of panic button by pressing ‘numeric key – 5’ or ‘numeric key – 9’ to invoke emergency call cannot be sold. 

Once the panic button is pressed, a signal/call will be made to the nearest security agency. However, the details of how the system will work are yet to be finalised.