There exists a strong demand for a separate time zone by northeast populace for a very long period. Should India have to follow two time zones? Justify your stand. (200 words)
Refer – The Indian Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
· India has a single time zone, defined by mean longitude at 82.5oE of the GMT, passing through Mirzapur in UP.
· This results in almost a 2hr difference in sunrise from east to west.
· The people, legislators and industrialists from northeast part of the country have been demanding a separate time zone for a long time.
· It is time for India to follow two time zones to address their genuine concerns with the existing Indian Standard Time (IST).
Problems with the existing IST
· Day light wastage – The Sun rises and sets much earlier than the official working hours.
· Early sunrise leads to loss of many daylight hours. In winter, this problem gets even more severe and more consumption of electricity is required to keep life active.
· Wasting productive hours – If the human circadian rhythm is not synchronous to light–dark (sunrise/sunset) cycle, the working efficiency of the people will be compromised.
· The existing IST fails in this case and the productive hours of people gets wasted.
Advantages of having two time zones
· Energy savings – The country could potentially save 20 million kWh energy a year if it follows two time zones.
· Also, the peak energy demands might be currently being met through costly, and sometimes polluting, methods of energy production.
· A reduction in this is likely to have several positive effects.
· Promote physical activity – It may encourage greater sports and recreation participation.
· Mainstream north-east region – It should help the north-eastern states to better align economic activities with the rest of the country.
· Meeting other social policy objectives – Longer daylight during evenings is likely to contribute towards reducing road accidents and improving women's safety.
· Having 2 time zones will synchronize human circadian rhythm with light–dark cycle.
· It is intimately tied to health, wellbeing and efficiency at work, which in turn, is intimately related to the overall socio-economic development of the region.
Road to future
· India’s time keeper – CSIR’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has recently proposed an implementable solution which locates the second time zone in the “chicken neck”, connecting northeast to the rest of India.
· In this line, the border between the two time zones has a very narrow spatial-width with minimum number of train stations.
· So, it will reduce the probability of rail accidents which is the major reason for opposition for two time zones in India.
AJITH 6 years
Review please
IAS Parliament 6 years
