To save energy, Govt mulls multiple time zones

The Government is taking a fresh look at the possibility of having differential time zones in the country as an energy saving measure.In response to a specific enquiry from the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on the potential of energy savings by having differential time zones, the BEE has deputed Bangalore-based National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) to look at the possibilities.

Three options are being considered — having two separate time zones in the country; distinct summer and winter timings as a daylight saving measure; and moving the existing IST (Indian Standard Time) ahead by half an hour. “There was a reference from DEA to look at the possibilities of energy saving gains from having different time zones. NIAS has been asked to look at it… the study is to be completed by October or November.The mandate is to purely look at energy savings,” Dr Ajay Mathur, Director-General of BEE, said. Peak shortages have been climbed from slightly over 11 per cent in 2001-02 to close to 14 per cent in recent years, with capacity addition targets during the Tenth Plan period faltering badly and slippages galore in the initial years of the Eleventh Plan.

India currently has a single time zone compared with Russia's eleven, the US and Canada's six zones, Brazil's four zones and Australia and Kazakhstan's three zones. China, however, is a notable exception with a single time zone. India's east-west span of more than 2,000 km covers over 28 degrees of longitude, resulting in a two-hour difference in the sun rise and set across the eastern border of Arunachal Pradesh and the Rann of Kutch in the far west. The main merit in having differential timing is that eastern States could advance their clocks with the early sunrise and avoid the extra consumption of energy after daylight hours. Besides, office timings in an eastern hub such as Guwahati or Kolkata could be earlier than say in Mumbai or Ahmedabad in the west, thereby staggering peak consumption timings.

The Indian Standard Time is calculated on the basis of the 82.5° E longitude, which is just west of the town of Mirzapur near Allahabad. Local time is calculated from a clock tower at the Allahabad Observatory, though the official time-keeping devices are entrusted to the Delhi-based National Physical Laboratory. In the late 1980s, a team of researchers proposed two or three time zones to conserve energy.

In 2001, the Centre established a committee under the Ministry of Science and Technology to examine the need for multiple time zones. The findings, which were presented to Parliament in 2004, recommended continuing with the single time zone. Though the Government has so far resisted multiple time zones, provisions in labour laws such as the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 actually allow the Government to define and set the local time for a particular industrial area.