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A Second Time Zone for India, Assam to go Ahead of Rest of Country |
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A Second Time Zone for India, Assam to go Ahead of Rest of Country
The clock in Assam may run an hour ahead. The state is planning to pursue garden time, that is the daylight-saving schedule similar to the plan introduced in the state during British rule, especially for tea plantation.
The experts have thus resolved to creating a second time zone for Assam, other than the Indian Standard Time (IST) which is followed all over the country. This time zone will advance the IST by one hour in the state of Assam.
Tarun Gogoi, the chief minister of Assam, stated, “Such a time zone already exists in tea gardens. People will become more energetic and we will save on energy consumption too”.
The decision has been taken in accordance to the timings of sunrise and sunset in the north-eastern states, where the sun rises around five in the morning and sunsets by five p.m. Following the IST leads to the loss of productivity as the day begins late in the state. For instance, a farmer in Gujarat prepares for work an hour later as compared with Assam, where work must begin an hour before for equal output.
The former secretary of the Indian Tea Association Robin Borthakur said, “This concept started because daylight breaks earlier than other parts of India. That is why the time was decided”.
The filmmaker Jahnu Baruah shared his opinion saying, “I had being talking about this for almost 25 years. India is a vast country; the difference between eastern border and western border is two hours. We are wasting too much productivity. I have calculated the north-east itself we went behind in productivity by 25 years”.
