Do we need multiple time Zones in India??

Just to put the size into perspective - India is the seventh-largest county by geographical area and measures 3,214 km from north to south and 2,993 km from east to west. In terms of the longitude we are locked between 68°7' and 97°25' east. This means we cover almost 29 degrees of the entire 360 degree sphere of the earth. Now just to refresh the mathematics involved the entire earth is divided into 24 hours ( i wish they were less) which means for each degree out of the 360 we have (24 * 60) / 360 = 4 minutes per degree. ( had you studied your geography lessons properly u would have remembered :P)

29 degrees and 4 min for each degree this means the difference between the time the sun rises in Ghuar Mota and kumki is exactly 2 hours. What a waste of time i call it. at one end sun rises at 5 am and people are still sleeping as they have nothing to do at the other end sun rises at 7 am and people have to wake up before sunrise. Since we have a Single time Zone offices all across india start at same time. All Banks , Post offices, schools, business centers etc all start at the same time wasting valuable morning hours.

What Does multiple time Zones means for us? It means 1 hour of extra productivity for us. It means we wake up with the sun. It means we have enough light when we drive out of our offices and head home. It means less accidents and more visibility. It means less use of Energy and electricity. It means less pollution and more SaveEarth. It means our call centers now can support 1 hours more from different time zones ( common it means 11.11% considering 9 hour working). There are a host of benefits which people have talked about and other nations of the world are realising. USA extended its DST in 2007 to save 0.5% of its electricity usage as less artifical lighting is required. Forget DST we can atleast implement what is constant throught the year.

The most important point raised by critiques is that we are a poor, illiterate nation and we should focus on other important issues. I say this is our chance to show to world that india is changing and had chnaged quite a lot from the past. We are smart intellegent people and we realize what is good for us. GMT+530 is not even a time Zone. We can have GMT +5 and +6 and it will not only inprove economic activities but also give the north-east states their due. Seperatist movements in Assam and other NE states is because they are always totally ignored. If we realize that how important is there time and economic activities to us we can take them into mainstream india.

Ofcourse there will be Railways , Television and Flights disruptions initially but the rest of world has done it and coped with it and so can we.

Further reading : excerpts from an article that appeared in the Indian publication of CURRENT SCIENCE, 298 VOL. 93, NO. 3