• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

D. Murali

Chennai March 26 Turkey switches to daylight saving time (DST) on March 25 to make better use of daylight hours in tune with `Cabinet decision on the issue', informs www.todayszaman.com, in a posting dated March 24. "DST, also called summer time, will take effect early on Sunday morning, when at 3:00 a.m. the clocks will go forward one hour, making the time 4:00 a.m. DST will end October 28, 2007, when clocks are turned back one hour," is more about Turkey time.

On http://media-newswire.com is a press release dated March 23 saying, "Deputy Premier Eric Ripper today reminded Western Australians that daylight saving ends at 3 a.m. (Summer Time) on Sunday and they will need to wind their clocks back one hour. Mr Ripper encouraged Western Australians to reset their clocks before going to bed Saturday night."

Meanwhile, Subhash C. Saxena writes on www.myrtlebeachonline.com that DST is `nonsensical today'. DST was started during World War I to save electricity by countries of the Western world, he narrates. "If it made a bit of sense then, it does not make any sense now." Why so? Because `most of the electricity is guzzled by air conditioning or heating, followed by the washer-dryer, dishwasher and refrigerator, among other gadgets in the household'. Only a small percentage of the electric bill is due to lights, reasons Saxena.

To know the relevance of DST for India, Business Line contacted Professor D.P. Sen Gupta and Mr Dilip Ahuja of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. The duo has written a paper on the subject recently.

Excerpts from an interview:

What is DST?

Daylight Savings Time (DST) means advancing clocks by an hour in the spring (March-April in the northern hemisphere) and setting them back by an hour in the fall (October-November in the northern hemisphere.)

How many countries practise it? Are there variations in the practices?

Out of 311 regions in the world, 114 regions practise it. The variations are in the specific weekends when they start and when they revert.

Is it relevant to India? Why or why not?

DST in its usual form is thought to be inadvisable for India since it is likely to increase the likelihood of rail accidents and other disruptions during the biannual transition periods. Our proposal is to permanently advance IST (Indian Standard Time) by half an hour.

What are the implications of your proposal - in terms of cost, work, productivity and so on?

There will be savings of electrical energy because of utilising the sunlight half an hour longer. The saving will significantly reduce the energy required during evening peaks. Other benefits identified in our paper (and observed in other countries that have made these shifts) are a net reduction in traffic accidents, reduction in (petty?) street crime, mainstreaming the north-eastern part of the country, increase in shopping and leisure activities, increase in professional productivity, and making our country with 95 per cent of the regions that have time zones that are off from GMT by hours that are full integers. The cost of the change will be significantly less than the expected savings. Some of the proponents of DST in other countries historically have been storeowners, who expect an increase in shopping during the extra daylight time.

Any negatives?

The only serious negative effect is the inconvenience of sending children to school on dark foggy mornings in the northern part of the country during the month of January. Anyway most schools have different timings for school hours during that time and it would not be that big a deal to modify them by half an hour more.

More Stories on : Science & Technology | Interview

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Models suggest `good' monsoon from La Nina

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line