Top of Mind

Reinventing Indian Standard Time

What? Two scientists, Dilip Ahuja and D.P. Sengupta, of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, have proposed to shift Indian Standard Time (IST) ahead by 30 minutes.

How? They propose to move the longitude where IST is measured from 82.5 degrees east in Mirzapur to 90 degrees east. This means IST will be six hours ahead of GMT compared to fiveand-a-half hours at present.

How will it help? Working days will end half-an-hour earlier; savings from lower electricity use alone will be Rs 1,000 crore. The gains from improved productivity have not been measured.

The catch: This may work for those who follow the nine-to-six schedule, but with so many people working long (and late) into the night, its effect may be limited.

When will it come into force? It’s only a proposal now and a mountain of red tape remains to be cut before clocks nationwide can be changed.