A different time zone for NE is an urgent need of the hour

Lt Col (retd) Naorem Kumar *

Different Time Zone in Asian Countries :: Check Bangladesh is +6 hrs from GMT whereas NE India is +5 1/2 hrs ; Burma (Myanmar) is +6 1/2 Hrs

States of North East India lag behind the other states of the mainland India in almost all measures and parameters of economic growth. Although it has become more and more fashionable to blame the government at the centre for all the ills, one of the fundamental reasons is the loss of a major portion of daytime for these states as Indian Standard Time (IST) meridian line lies well in the west of the region.

The 82°30' E longitude which is taken as the Standard Time Meridian of India passes through the middle of India (at Naini, near Allahabad). This is a great disadvantage and loss in working hours for the North East India.

Too ahead of the rest of India

The financial capital of India, Mumbai, lies at longitude 78°82' E compared to Imphal which lies at longitude 93°95' E. It means that Imphal is ahead of Mumbai and Delhi by one hour as every 15° of longitude is equivalent to one hour. Thus, the sun raises and sets an hour earlier. Moreover, people of Manipur are early risers by tradition (now due to forced early sleep because of power load shedding).

On the other hand, people of Mumbai/Delhi sleep very late (full of night life) and rise very late. As a result, the actual difference in time when people of North East and Delhi/Mumbai rise would be around 3 hours on an average. This is too long a time to be wasted by the people of North East without any productive work.

Slothful work culture

In addition, people of Manipur generally reach office at around 10.30am or 11am with full stomach (resulting in slothful and lethargic start to day's work) whereas people of Mumbai have a light breakfast and rush to office to reach by 9am or 9.30am. The end result is that people of Manipur lose around 4.5 hours to 5 hours of daylight compared to people of Mumbai. It is also significant to note that this 4.5 or 5 hours in the morning is supposedly the most productive time of the day in terms of efficiency.

Similarly, people of Manipur usually leave office around 3.30pm to 4pm (some much earlier, some hardly even attend office) due to need to rush back home and wind up many household activities to beat the early sunset, load shedding, standing in serpentine queue in front of ATM booth and police harassment commencing around dusk (cops in Imphal are very fond of frisking people at the heart of the town and not at the outskirts and beyond for reasons best known to them).

Manipur is one unique place where ATMS open only in the afternoon and are closed after dusk and on holidays and Sundays. Thus, office goers are left with no choice but to sneak out during office hours to withdraw mone. The final figure of loss of daylight working hours per day per person works out to be around 5-6 hours. Isn't this a huge loss?

Productivity (except population) is low in North East states, infrastructure is poor, and employment opportunities are meager. Overall, the perception of people of mainland India is that people of North East are lazy and unproductive. I also somewhat endorse this perception. Offices in Manipur should start at 7am in order to achieve some level of efficiency and try catching up with the rest of the country or else we will further fall behind and be destined to remain to be 2nd class citizens.

Need for demand make two time zones

Many factors play a part in the development of a region – its location, weather conditions, political leadership, availability of raw materials etc. Except for political leadership, North East states seem quite well endowed. If this be so, why then are these states so abysmally less productive than the rest of India? May be the answer lies in the fact that India has a single time zone placing states of North East at great disadvantage.

The states of North East have many political, ideological and ethnic differences. However, one thing they all must agree on is that the clock in the region must be advanced by at least one hour in summer and two hours in winter months of October to February. This should bring some parity in the system and a level playing field created.

Advantages

Some advantages of advancing the clock would be:

1. Increased productivity: An early start would have more energetic people in the offices. This will result in better efficiency and increased productivity at work places. I have seen many government officers playing golf or visiting officers' club, Lamphel in the morning at a time they should be attending their offices.

Army is one organization in which office hour starts at around 8am (that too after morning PT and breakfast) and ends at 2pm. This early start could be the reasons for better efficiency and productivity at military garrisons. Games and sports are played in the afternoon/evening, not in the morning. People of North East should benefit immensely by emulating this work culture.

2. Reduced power consumption (power is so scarce as it is): Starting and closing an hour or two would result in a saving of an hour's electricity consumption in offices. A conservative estimate shows that starting the day an hour earlier would result in a saving of about 550 MW of power in North East India.

3. Curbing alcoholism: The need to reach offices early and start work early would encourage people to reduce consumption of alcohol to some extent. Late start of working hours give the leverage and cushion for people to indulge in heavy drinking at night as one is aware that there is enough morning hours to beat and overcome the hangover (very often by taking another peg or two). There certainly are better ways to spend this morning hours when a person is supposedly at his/her energetic best.

Time to review

The Department of Science & Technology (DST) had examined the feasibility of setting up dual time for India in 2007. The recommendation to advance the clock in North East India by an hour was reportedly turned down citing acute administrative challenges it would pose (we Indians generally don't like challenges it seems). There is an urgent requirement to review the decision of 2007. The DST should re-examine the possibility and feasibility of introducing the advanced time zone for North East India.

Mr Tarun Gogoi and O Ibobi Singh should show some leadership and vision to spearhead this demand for the betterment and welfare for the people of the region. Both of them have enough clout and authority and are in a position(I hope) within the Congress party hierarchy and bureaucracy to assert their authority by influencing/pressurising the concerned ministry and departments. After all, both of them are serving their third terms as Chief Ministers. Or is it asking/expecting too much from these not so erudite and visionary leaders who seem unable to even manage basic governance in their backward states with not too many progressive and forward thinking citizens?

Lessons from International Scene

Singapore is an example of a country that has kept their clock an hour ahead of the standard time longitude. While Singapore's longitude is 105° E they have kept their time on 120° E, keeping the country one hour ahead. This could be one of the reasons for Singaporean's greater productivity and prosperity of the island nation.

China too follows the longitude of 120° E as their time zone, keeping almost the entire country to the west of their time meridian. We all know the Chinese economic juggernaut which is breaking out well ahead, making it impossible for others to catch up, but look with awe and admiration. What else could be the reason for China likely to become No 1 economy in the world soon?

Bangladesh, which lies to the west of North East India (Dhaka is at 90° E), keeps its time 30 minutes ahead of India. In addition, Bangladesh advances its clock by an hour in winter months. Thus, for five months of the year, Bangladesh Standard Time is one-an–a-half hours ahead of India. Could it be this that is helping the country's steady economic growth?

Passing note

Since independence, the states of North East India have fallen behind the rest of the country and the bedrock of backwardness is the poor productivity of the people. May be insurgency and geographical isolation has a part in this. There are many practical steps to change this and a separate time zone in one probably. So let us demand it and press for it strongly to bring a more productive times ahead.