As per a study from New Delhi-based CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the presence of two time zones will increase the overall productivity of North-Eastern states, and lead to less power consumption there too,
According to a Hindustan Times report, the paper on “Necessity of ‘two time zones: IST-I (UTC +5:30 h) and IST-II (UTC +6:30 h)' in India and its implementation” was first published in the journal Current Science by the Indian Academy of Sciences.
The Indian Standard Time (IST), introduced on September 1, 1947, corresponds to the time near Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur, with states located to the west of this longitude having more daylight than those in the east. It is also ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time (UCT, 0.00).
The UCT, which is also known as Greenwich Mean Time, is based on the imaginary longitude line running through Greenwich in the UK. It is also the primary time standard through which clocks and time are regulated throughout the world. UCT is within about one second of mean solar time at 0° longitude and not adjusted for daylight saving time.
The NPL has already examined the feasibility of implementing the second time zone for North-eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which will be 6.30 hours ahead UTC to save daytime, by running the clocks there one hour ahead, compared to the rest of India.
It estimated that in the case of two time zones, the annual electricity saving will be 20 million kWh.
As per a Firstpost report, India, which currently observes a single time zone based on the longitude passing through 82°33′E, will become IST-I, under the new proposal. It will cover the regions between longitudes 68°7′E and 89°52′E.
The same report also says that the new time zone study has taken into account several factors like the impact of sunrise and sunset timings on biological activities and office hours, along with the technical feasibility of managing two time zones.
“This is a scientific paper where we have examined whether having two time zones is feasible for India and how it can be implemented. Just like previous research on the subject, we found that having a UTC plus six-and-a half-hour time zone will increase the productivity in Port Blair and the north-eastern states,” said Dinesh K Aswal, director, NPL. He is also one of the study's authors.
“For example, it was suggested that having two time zones could lead to railway collisions, but we have shown in the paper that if the train clocks are switched at Alipurduar Junction on the West Bengal and Assam border, such collisions can be avoided,” added Aswal, while discussing about the concerns raised by the previous studies.
“This is the scientific proof we have provided, now the political decision rests with the government. It is up to the ministry to decide whether or not to implement it,” said Aswal.
IST-II (UTC + 6:30 h, represented by longitude passing through ), the new time zone, on the other hand, will be passing through 97°30′E and cover regions between 89°52′E and 97°25′E, including the whole North-east and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
To implement the IST-2, NPL will have to establish a Primary Time Scale (PTS) consisting of five Caesium clocks and one Hydrogen Maser, in one of the north-eastern states similar to Delhi-based PTS for IST-I.
A Caesium Clock measures time on the basis of the resonance or change of energy of a Caesium isotope. The Hydrogen Maser, on the other hand, determines time calculating the Hydrogen resonance across energy states.
The study was necessitated by the fact that in north-east, the Sun rises and sets earlier than the IST, compared to the rest of the country, resulting in the loss of daylight hours.
It gets worse in winter since the days get shorter and nights to become longer, leading to a loss in productivity and higher power consumption.
The Assam tea gardens have been unofficially following the British-era ‘chaibagaan time’ or tea-estate time since 2014. Under this pattern, daytime is set one hour ahead of IST.
In fact, the Guwahati High Court in 2017 dismissed a PIL seeking separate time zone for the northeast. Also in June same year, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu reiterated the demand for a separate time zone.