The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a part of the Ministry of Power, will soon select an agency to study the social and behavioural impact of advancing the Indian Standard Time by 30 minutes. The issue has also engaged the attention of the Centre; inter-ministerial discussions are currently underway, says Ajay Mathur, Director-General, BEE.

These are indications that things are at last moving forward on an issue that has been discussed in scientific and bureaucratic circles for long.

Power savings A one-time move of shifting IST to 6 hours ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time from five-and-a-half hours now, will shave off 16 per cent of peak time demand and save about 3 billion units of electricity consumption annually, according to Professor DP Sengupta of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru.

‘High impact move’ “It is a zero cost, high impact, one-time move, which can be easily reversed if found not working out,” says Toine van Megan, Founder of Auroville Consulting, who has been crusading for the move for over a decade.

If you are used to waking up at, say, 6 am, you will still wake up at the same time, but the clock will show 5.30. However, more work will happen during daylight, saving energy. And, there will be non-energy benefits as well. “My daughter could return home from work before it gets dark,” says Sengupta, who, along with Dilip Ahuja, did the study at NIAS.

The one-time, 30-minute shift of the IST has been found to be the best of five options that were studied by NIAS, at the behest of BEE. The other options were: status quo, shifting IST back by one hour, dividing the country in two time zones and having different times for summers and winters.

A one-hour shift backwards would be bad for States such as J&K and Punjab, as the days will start quite early — a problem in winters. Dividing the country into two time zones was found to be fraught with dangers, while giving the least amount of energy savings. Imagine what would happen if a railway signal assistant confuses with timing and shifts the levers at the wrong time, says Sengupta.

The other option of having two times — one for winter and another for summer — was similarly found to be less effective.

North-East’s benefit Megen, a former Suzlon executive and a Dutchman, who has made India his home, notes that the move would also help the region integrate better with the rest of the country .

“Today, their ‘9:30 am’ is close to mid-day and their ‘5:30 pm’ is pitch dark,” points out Toine.

He also notes that at a time when India looks to doing more business with the region, it is wiser to move India’s standard time closer to theirs.

“All that it takes is proper communication to people, perhaps giving advance notice of around six months and select a long weekend for beginning to implement it,” he says.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW