Assam, often referred to as the “Land of the Backwards” or “Lahhe Lahe” (Slowly, Slowly), may now move beyond the rest of India for at least a few hours. In his statement on the Assam-Meghalaya pact in the Assembly on March 30, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma emphasized the need for a separate time zone for his state.
“We need a different time zone. By the time we wake up and go to work, the sun is over our heads. Today we need at least two hours ahead time zone and only then we can not only save our electricity consumption but also improve our health and management. If you see today when we work, we are working almost midnight. In an advanced time zone, we would be working and sleeping according to our biological clock. We can have joint tourism, a joint time zone and a joint taxation policy. Border disputes and issues are a hindrance as there is mistrust among the people,” said the Assam CM.
Centuries ago the British envisaged a different time zone in the tea gardens of Assam. When the rest of the country and state went about their daily hectic work, Assam’s lush tea gardens would have completed an important hour’s work, thanks to the foresight of the British and the continuation of colonial practice in the estates, observers say. The “Plantation Time” or “Local Time” observed in tea gardens is a time zone set primarily at sunrise.
In 2014, as a New Year’s resolution, Tarun Gogoi, the then Chief Minister of the state, proposed a local time zone that would be at least 60 minutes ahead of Indian Standard Time (IST) and help the state save energy. use of sunlight. Government offices in Assam work from 9.30 am to 5 pm. Gogoi claimed, during British rule, India was divided into three time zones – Bombay, Calcutta and Bagan.
IST is five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. According to experts, there is a difference of two hours between the rise of the sun in the east of India and the rise of the sun in the west. It needs to be mentioned that despite several earlier attempts, the demand for a different time zone was never met.
In 2017, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu demanded a separate time zone for the northeastern states, saying that many working hours are wasted because offices open late and the sun rises early.
A panel set up to examine a different time zone for northeastern states recommended against it for “strategic reasons”. In a written reply to a question on demand, the then Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said such requests have been made on the ground that sunrise and sunset timings in these parts are much before the official working hours.
“The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has published some reports on this issue in scientific journals mentioning power savings,” Vardhan said. The matter was investigated by a High Level Committee (HLC), comprising the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and the Chief Secretary of Tripura.
By one estimate, since independence, the Northeast has suffered a productivity loss of 25 years and 10 months as India has maintained the same time zone. Some experts suggest that in 100 years the sector will lag behind in terms of productivity by 54 years.
While countries such as Russia, the United States and Canada have multiple time zones, India’s neighbor Bangladesh has also pushed its time forward by 90 minutes. France has 12 time zones, while the US has 11 and Australia has eight.
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