Context:

• Home Minister launched a range of citizen safety initiatives in New Delhi, including the Emergency Response Support System, ERSS, for women’s safety in 16 states and Union territories.
• The states include Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir. The service has already been launched in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
• Persons in distress can dial a pan-India number: 112. Under this system, all the states have to set up a dedicated Emergency Response Centre, ERC.
• A citizen may Press the power button on a smartphone thrice quickly to activate a panic call to ERC. In case of a feature phone, long press on number 5 or 9 on the phone keypad will activate the panic call.
• The ERCs are connected to District Command Centres and the Emergency Response Vehicles, and assistance to victims is facilitated through them.
• An amount of over 321 crore rupees has been provided for this initiative through the Nirbhaya fund.
• The Home Minister also launched two portals – Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences and Safe City Implementation Monitoring Portal.