Techies develop 'I-Shakti' for women in distress

After Android based applications like ‘Pukar’ and ‘Telltale’ doing rounds with women folk, Mangalore based techies have developed yet another app for women’s safety. Claimed to be the better and easier app version compared to other apps, ‘I-Shakti’ helps to alert the concerned people, when a woman is in distress or dangerous situation.

All that a woman using an android phone with the ‘I-Shakti’ application installed in it, has to do is to add three of her contacts to the application. During the time of distress, the victim has to vigorously shake the phone, which will send an alert SMS to the selected three contacts, along with location details. Based on the alert, SMS recipients can act towards locating and protecting the victim.

An idea that came to the mind of two young IT professionals from Mangalore, Dheeraj Madi and Sripathi Pai, took the form of an application for women’s safety. The duo along with four other friends have developed the app under the banner Team Visioneers.

Speaking at the launching programme, Sripathi Pai said that disturbed over increased rape cases, he and his friends decided to contribute towards women’s safety in their own way. “All that we were good at was technology and we wanted to develop a technology that would help the women in distress. On learning about some of the loopholes in the apps that are already available in android phones, we decided to improve the app,” he said.

If the existing applications require the victim to press the button or dial some number for sending alert SMS, ‘I-Shakti’ requires only vigorous shaking. At the time of trouble, the victim can not search for the phone button or screen. Shaking the phone makes it easier for the victim. A standard SMS of ‘Help me! Locate me at’ is sent to the recipient within fraction of seconds, however it depends on the network availability.

Team member Dheeraj Madi said that for tracing the location of the victim, GPS has to be on in the victim’s phone. With the recipient too switching on the GPS after receiving the alert SMS, location can be traced. The app uses minimum space in the phone as it runs in the background. The app can be downloaded for free from the following link: http://slideme.org/application/i-shakti

Speaking at the launching programme, advocate P P Hegde said that such android applications not only help the victim, but also help the police in detection of crime more swiftly. The alert SMS sent becomes an important evidence in the case.

Expert Education Foundation Secretary Ushaprabha Nayak launched the app.