- Posted by One India, last updated on 31 March, 2022

India

oi mukesh pandey

New Delhi, 29 March. The Assam government has once again reiterated its two-decade-old demand. The Chief Minister of the state Himanta Biswa Sarma has justified a hypothesis of the British centuries ago. He has said that we can not only save our electricity consumption but also improve our health and management. In the Legislative Assembly, CM Hemant Biswa Sarma described the issues of the state as a hindrance to development and said that the people of Assam are still working till midnight.

Chief Minister Himanta Bishwa Sharma once again raised the question repeated in the Assam Legislative Assembly in every session of Parliament since 2002. He said that Assam is often referred to as the ‘Land of the Backward’ or ‘Lahhe Lahe’, which means the state of slow-moving state. But this region can now move beyond the rest of India for at least a few hours. CM again raised the demand for a separate time zone in Assam for this and said that we need a separate time zone. By the time we wake up and go to work, the sun is over our heads.

Assam needs time zone at least 2 hours ahead: CM
In Assam assembly, CM Himanta Biswa Sharma said that we need at least two hours ahead time zone (IST). This not only saves electricity consumption but also improves health and management. The CM said that at present we are working till around midnight. But if our demand is met then in an advanced time zone we will be working and sleeping according to our biological clock. He stressed on the demand that we need to have a joint time zone and a joint taxation policy. There is a feeling of mistrust among the people in this with the border and issues becoming a hindrance.

Centuries ago the British hypothesis was correct
CM Himanta Bishwa Sharma talked about the delayed start of work in Assam. He said that by the time the rest of the country and the state go about their daily hectic activities, the lush green gardens of Assam have done an hour’s work. The CM justified the hypothesis of a separate time zone in the tea gardens of Assam by the British centuries ago and said that he spoke of a separate time zone in Assam due to the foresight of the British and the continuation of colonial practice in the estates. Plantation time or local time in tea gardens is a time zone set primarily at sunrise.

In the year 2004, the demand for a separate time zone was raised in the Assam Legislative Assembly.

Presently government offices in Assam work from 9.30 am to 5 pm. A local time zone was proposed in 2014 by the then Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi. Which was at least 60 minutes ahead of Indian Standard Time (IST). He had argued that this would help save the state’s energy. Sunlight will be fully utilized. Gogoi claimed that during British rule India was divided into three time zones – Bombay, Calcutta and Bagan. Now the Assam government has again reiterated the same demand in the assembly.

The demand was raised in the Parliament in 2002

Earlier this question was raised in Parliament in March 2002. The issue was then studied by a high-level committee constituted by the Department of Science and Technology in the same year. It was concluded in the study that several zones may cause difficulties which would hamper the smooth functioning of airlines, railways, radio, television and telephone services. So it was best to continue with the unified timing. India extends for about 3000 km from east to west.

2 hours difference in time from India East to West end
There is a longitude of about 28 degrees between the eastern and western ends of the country resulting in a difference of about two hours between the western and eastern points. Indian Standard Time (calculated from 82.5′ E longitude in Mijarpur, Uttar Pradesh), does not affect most Indians, except those who live in the northeastern region where the sun rises around 4 a.m. in summer And before 4 pm it gets dark in winter. So the Northeast region has long complained about the impact of a single time zone on their lives and their economies.