Govt announces special women safety feature in pan-India emergency app

Kohima: Nagaland on Saturday became the first state in the Northeast and second in the country after Himachal Pradesh to launch a pan-India single-number emergency mobile application which will have a special women safety feature for immediate assistance from police and volunteers.

Announcing the launch here, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said a 'SHOUT' feature has been made available exclusively for women in the '112 India' mobile app which is connected to the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS). Singh said women in distress will able to seek immediate assistance from nearby registered volunteers as well as from the Emergency Response Centre (ERC) by using the 'SHOUT' feature.

"This app will assist the first responders in locating and tracking the woman in distress using GPS for effective response," he said.

The ERSS utilizes location based services to assist the ERC in locating the distressed caller, the home minister said.

ERCs have been setup here and in three district command centres to offer unified emergency service. On receipt of an SOS from a woman, ERCs can dispatch the nearest response vehicle to the spot for assistance. Singh said the country needs to provide a safe and secure environment to women for facilitating their participation in all developmental activities. "Only then can we achieve the optimum growth of our country".

"Women constitute half of the country's population and if we make our cities and settlements safe then women will automatically participate in the progress of the country and the country will move forward. A country where women are safe, is strong and no one can stop the development of that country," Singh said.