Time Zone - II

Mimoh Likmabam *

Summer time sunset at Imphal city toward Langol hill range in October 2013 :: Pix - Jinendra Maibamm

The North Eastern part of India, due to its topographical features, stays as a land-locked region from the mainland. From time immemorial, the region is also misaligned with daily cycle of the sunlight. Indeed we live a lifestyle different from the mainland. The economic status of this region is also mediocre when compared with other parts of India.

We also always feel a sense of alienation, living in a different world, calling them foreigners in our own words. The problem of adjusting to the distant relative's lifestyles has always been prevailing. This difference is still not solved by any of the reforms, from the ever changing Indian policy making.

Similar big countries like the USA, Russia, Australia have more than a single time zone and some of them follow daylight savings, notably the US. They adjust their clock either back or forth based on the climate, in a bid to save more energy by synchronising the time standards with the cycle of the sunlight. China and India happened to be the only two countries in the world that is following a single time zone despite their respective geographical sizes. China being a communist country, it is politically perfect to follow a single time zone to ease the high command.

A crucial factor in which the rate of productivity of an economy depend is the period of working hours. Two scientist from National Institute Of Advance Studies, Bangalore had already proposed advancing the clock to 30 minutes forward at +6 GMT, predicting that it could save India of 2.7 billion units of electricity annually as the citizens will rely on energy for a lesser time and depend more on the solar energy from the sun. This advancement can also make us more attuned to the biological clock, if we happened to sleep and wake at the same time as before. The advancement will make our sleep cycle more harmonious to the daily cycle of the sunshine.

It also reported of the 'Twin Burden' of very early summer sunrise and very early winter sunsets in the North-Eastern part of the country. Social benefits were even cited, with this proposal in advancement of time. However, the proposal for a twin time zone was scrapped citing possible difficulties in the operation of airline, railway and communication services.

The current Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi has announced that Assam will start to follow a time zone different than the Indian Standard Time zone of +5.30 GMT. India's second time zone will be one hour ahead of its first one, to +6.30 GMT. He a stated that this could increase the productivity in the state and ease the tea gardeners of the the famous, Assam Tea. The gardeners have to plan their harvest accordingly with the daily cycle of the sun. This change will translate into more yield and help boost the economy of the state.

Nevertheless, the tea gardeners of Assam had been following a 'Tea Garden Time', at +6.30 GMT, introduced during the British's times. They work from 9 to 5, Dolly Parton could not get the lyrics, which, roughly translates to 8 to 4 in the Indian Standard Time. It's been followed before independence in this part of the country owing to the early sunrise in this part of the country.

Daylight Saving Time (DST), usually referred to as summer time in the United Kingdom is the practice of advancing clocks during the lighter months so that evenings have more apparent daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in the autumn.

Since independence the North-eastern region of India had been suffering from huge productivity losses due the difference in the sunrise and sunset in this part of the country and the mainland. This is problem will go profound and still persist until a plan is chalked out for a solution. Loss of 27 years and 11 months since independence is not a small number to be ignored on pen and paper.

In the generation's search for renewable energy and strict measures followed everywhere in the planet to reduce and conserve energy, this huge potential to save tremendous amount of energy should not be let gone in vain and must be tapped. The poor economic status and main dependence on agriculture for livelihood in the North-eastern states of India is a great reason for this part of the country to adjust the time zone and make it more aligned with the cycle of the sun. Jokes apart, maybe we could go ahead in time in this race for never ending growth and productivity.

With India's western and eastern borders stretching to some 2000 km apart each other, India could well have three time zones. Originally in 1884, two time zones, Bombay Time, +4.51 GMT and Calcutta time, +5.30:21 GMT were introduced. In 1905, during the colonial times, a uniform time zone based on Allahabad at +5.30 GMT was later introduced, for a uniformity in the railways system. The big cities in British India followed their own time zones. However to avoid confusion the railways companies decided to follow one time zone, called the Madras time zone and the government followed both Bombay time and Calcutta time.

The railway signals are not fully automated and many routes have single track. Resetting the clock at each crossing of the time zone, will lead to confusion. The trains may meet with major accidents owing to human errors. To solve this, the railways department in the country can alter the time zone they follow and popularised a different time zone, like the Madras Time Zone, as they did before independence. The reason being the location of Madras, which mid way between location of Bombay and Calcutta, in the layout of the country's map. Recently, a fresh proposal to shift the IST reference from 82.5 degrees East longitude near Allahabad to 90 degrees East near the Assam-Bengal border resurrected a two-decade old debate in India's policy making circles.

India has a large population, and it covers a large boundary. Undoubtedly the biggest democracy, the center has indeed a humongous work load and time factor in maintaining the country. Considerably, the center has kept up with this huge task to maintain the large population, so that the citizen can enjoy the reform, with a pride of republic. A sense where the citizen has the freedom to express their motions and notions.

A solution to this compensate this difference in time zone could really be a gift to the North – Eastern India, this republic day. This could reward to bridge the gap between the developed and developing regions of the country. Additionally counting the blessing to the underdeveloped North-Eastern region of our country, so that this underdeveloped region of the country can exploit more of the untapped potentials and resources and look beyond the conventional ideas of increasing the production of the economy.