Separate time zone for North East India : Petition
Date : 05th May 2017
Petition Link
India stretches nearly 3000 kilometers from the east to the west. There are almost 28 degrees of longitude between the country's eastern and western extremities, whereas on average a time zone corresponds to 15 degrees. The time difference between the westernmost and the easternmost point is approximately two hours.
While the time difference remains real, the clocks in the North East follow an unrealistic time zone which makes no social or economic sense. A typical day in the North East starts at around 4 am, with the sun setting as early as 4 pm in the winters. But the government offices and other establishments begin operations only at around 10, resulting in precious loss of 3-4 hours.
In 2014, the government of Assam decided to follow the Kaziranga time zone (chai bagan time zone) after repeated requests for a different time zone to the Central government went unanswered. The Kaziranga time zone is one hour ahead of the Indian Standard Time. In the lack of a notification from the central government, it has not yet seen fruition in the formal sector. This year, the Guahati High Court declined a petition to direct the Central Government to notify a different time zone.
A different time zone will not only help maximize daylight working hours, but it will also conserve energy. According to researchers from the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, advancing our clocks by 30 minutes can save about 2.7 billion units of electricity every year.
The informal sector has long had its own time zone, but the government offices, banks and financial institutions, other offices are constrained to follow one that is not in conformity with the geography of the region.
Join us in asking the Central Government to notify a separate time zone for the North East region and save valuable working hours.
* This information is sent to e-pao.net by Angellica Aribam
The writer is National General Secretary, NSUI and can be contacted at angellica(DOT)aribam(AT)nsui(DOT)in
This Post is webcasted on May 06 2017
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