videsee
August 20th, 2001, 11:36 AM
EAST AND WEST, DIVIDED BY A TIME LINE
SHEKHAR DATTA , Telegraph, Aug 20
Agartala, Aug. 19:
V. Thulasidas woke up in cold perspiration
to the glittering sunlight piercing through the
glass windows in the retiring room of
Calcutta’s old airport. An IAS officer
proceeding to Tripura on his maiden
posting, the young man from Kerala was
livid with rage as he thought he had missed
the 5.45 am Agartala-bound flight.
Back where he comes from, 5.45 is still
more grey than dazzling white.
Thulasidas’ quick glance at the watch saved
the retiring room’s caretaker a stinging
rebuke. The sun was shining brightly but it
wasn’t yet 5.45 and Thulasidas hadn’t
missed his flight. That was in 1969 but the
memory is still fresh in his mind.
Now, as chief secretary to the Tripura
government, he is on a four-member
committee that is considering the possibility
of dividing the country into different time
zones.
V. Ramamurthy, Union science and
technology secretary, who heads the panel,
said: “The committee is examining the
feasibility and advantages and
disadvantages of introducing two time
zones.”
This is not the first time such a proposal has
been mooted. In the late eighties, a
research team at the Tata Energy Research
Institute had suggested it to save electricity.
At the same time, it had noted that the
saving would be significant if electricity
consumption rose beyond then prevalent
levels.
Ramamurthy said: “The prime motivation for
undertaking such an exercise is to make
best use of daylight in eastern India.” In the
east, the sun rises earlier than in the west
and sets earlier.
For instance, the sunrise time forecast for
Calcutta on Monday is 5.17 am while for
Mumbai it is 6.20 am — a difference of over
an hour. The sunset time on Sunday, on the
other hand, in Calcutta was 6.04 pm and in
Mumbai 7.03 pm, again a gap of almost an
hour.
If the idea of creating two time zones is
accepted, the country will be divided by a
north-south line separating the east and the
west. The east then will be ahead of the
west, in keeping with the early sunrise.
With a single Indian Standard Time, the
eastern region loses at least an hour a day.
The IST is now based on the local time at
Mirzapur near Allahabad.
The committee had its first sitting last month
and is scheduled to meet again in
September where the views of the eastern
and northeastern states will be heard.
Underlining the need for different time
zones, experts said there are five standard
times in the US and eight in Russia. But
China has only one.
Ramamurthy pointed out some practical
difficulties in implementing two time zones.
One is the almost certain possibility that
states, even towns, could end up being split
into two time zones and two, public
acceptance.
The easterner should not object too much,
though. As Thulasidas says, the east is
behind the west and the north in sport since
children in this part of the country do not get
enough time to practice. Evenings are early
and day-starts are late because the hour on
the clock wakes them, not sunrise.
SHEKHAR DATTA , Telegraph, Aug 20
Agartala, Aug. 19:
V. Thulasidas woke up in cold perspiration
to the glittering sunlight piercing through the
glass windows in the retiring room of
Calcutta’s old airport. An IAS officer
proceeding to Tripura on his maiden
posting, the young man from Kerala was
livid with rage as he thought he had missed
the 5.45 am Agartala-bound flight.
Back where he comes from, 5.45 is still
more grey than dazzling white.
Thulasidas’ quick glance at the watch saved
the retiring room’s caretaker a stinging
rebuke. The sun was shining brightly but it
wasn’t yet 5.45 and Thulasidas hadn’t
missed his flight. That was in 1969 but the
memory is still fresh in his mind.
Now, as chief secretary to the Tripura
government, he is on a four-member
committee that is considering the possibility
of dividing the country into different time
zones.
V. Ramamurthy, Union science and
technology secretary, who heads the panel,
said: “The committee is examining the
feasibility and advantages and
disadvantages of introducing two time
zones.”
This is not the first time such a proposal has
been mooted. In the late eighties, a
research team at the Tata Energy Research
Institute had suggested it to save electricity.
At the same time, it had noted that the
saving would be significant if electricity
consumption rose beyond then prevalent
levels.
Ramamurthy said: “The prime motivation for
undertaking such an exercise is to make
best use of daylight in eastern India.” In the
east, the sun rises earlier than in the west
and sets earlier.
For instance, the sunrise time forecast for
Calcutta on Monday is 5.17 am while for
Mumbai it is 6.20 am — a difference of over
an hour. The sunset time on Sunday, on the
other hand, in Calcutta was 6.04 pm and in
Mumbai 7.03 pm, again a gap of almost an
hour.
If the idea of creating two time zones is
accepted, the country will be divided by a
north-south line separating the east and the
west. The east then will be ahead of the
west, in keeping with the early sunrise.
With a single Indian Standard Time, the
eastern region loses at least an hour a day.
The IST is now based on the local time at
Mirzapur near Allahabad.
The committee had its first sitting last month
and is scheduled to meet again in
September where the views of the eastern
and northeastern states will be heard.
Underlining the need for different time
zones, experts said there are five standard
times in the US and eight in Russia. But
China has only one.
Ramamurthy pointed out some practical
difficulties in implementing two time zones.
One is the almost certain possibility that
states, even towns, could end up being split
into two time zones and two, public
acceptance.
The easterner should not object too much,
though. As Thulasidas says, the east is
behind the west and the north in sport since
children in this part of the country do not get
enough time to practice. Evenings are early
and day-starts are late because the hour on
the clock wakes them, not sunrise.