Assam’s decision to set its clocks an hour ahead of the
rest of India could cause chaos in the railways, according to a leading
scientist who proposes instead the entire nation moving half-an-hour
ahead in order to save on daylight, energy and productivity.
Assam has decided to switch to Bagaan (tea garden) Time, set an hour ahead of Indian Standard Time (IST), chief minister Tarun Gogoi
said on Wednesday. He said IST had affected the state’s productivity by
forcing Assamese to follow a schedule that was not suited to them.
“All
states will save electricity if we were to advance IST by half-an-hour.
The amounts of savings will vary in different states from 0.2% to 0.7%
of daily consumption. As a percentage of peaking energy consumption,
however, the savings are very significant, about 17-18%,” said Dilip Ahuja, scientist and author of a 2012 research paper commissioned by the Union ministry of power.
IST—set
five-and-a-half hours ahead of the international Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT) and introduced in 1947—has been chosen with reference to a central
station sited 82º 30’ longitude east and 23º 11’ latitude North,
passing through Allahabad district in Uttar Pradesh.
An
example of the inconvenience faced by north-eastern states is that it
starts to get bright before 4am IST in June in these states, and dark by
5pm IST in November.
Those
who advocate a separate time zone argue that people in the North-East
could begin their day an hour earlier—time that is currently wasted.
This
is not the first time a separate time zone has been suggested in India,
especially for the eastern states. The proposal has been debated and
rejected but such moves have also thrown up alternative ideas.
In
2006, the Planning Commission recommended the introduction of two time
zones in the country, saying it would save “a lot of energy”.
In
2002, based on a suggestion by then governor of Tripura, the department
of science and technology formed a high-level committee to explore the
feasibility of two time zones, given the longitudinal difference between
the furthest regions of the country.
The
committee concluded against the idea of separate time zones. Separate
time zones may not provide any major advantage to the states, it said,
and such a move may actually pose difficulties due to the different
timings that would have to be framed for airlines, railways and
communications services.
It, however, recommended that individual state administrations could take such a step.
“Advancing
the work/institutional timing in appropriate states would be more
effective solution, which can be implemented through administrative
actions by the concerned state,” the committee recommendation said.
Since independence in 1947, the IST has been the official time for the whole country.
Pre-independence
India had two time zones. In the East, Calcutta Time was 5:30:21 hours
ahead of GMT, while Bombay Time in the West was 4:51:00 hours ahead of
GMT.
Calcutta Time was abandoned in 1948 and Bombay Time in 1955.
The
term Bagaan Time in Assam reflects labour laws, such as the Plantations
Labour Act of 1951, which allow governments to set local times for
particular areas.
Tea gardens in Assam already work to local clocks set an hour in advance of IST.
Meanwhile,
scientists have come up with a solution that they say could solve the
North-East’s time difference troubles without having to introduce a
separate time zone.
In
the research paper published in 2012, scientists from the National
Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Bangalore recommended advancing
IST by half-hour so that it is six hours ahead of GMT.
The paper projects savings to India of more than 2 billion kWh of electricity every year if this step were taken.
Ahuja,
author of the 2012 research paper, says that different time zones can
be potentially problematic in India. “Government offices in those states
will close at different times and would be accessible only 75% of the
time which can cause a potential loss of productivity,” he said in
response to emailed queries.
Ahuja
also says that different time zones could cause chaos for Indian
railways, although airlines may still manage. “India is a country where
trains change tracks by manual switching. Different time zones could
cause major confusion in communications between train operators and lead
to accidents,” he added.
