India has no plans to create a separate time zone
for seven North Eastern states, Rajya Sabha was informed.
Minister of State for Development of North Eastern
Region Jitendra Singh also denied that the region was wasting a huge amount of
electricity at home and offices in absence of a separate time zone.
A scientific study based on regional load curves and
several assumptions carried out by the National Institute of Advanced Studies has
indicated a modest saving of power between 1.2 to 1.5 per cent of the total
usage if North Eastern Region has a separate time zone, which is not very high,
he said replying a written question.
The demand for two time zones in India had first
come from the North-Eastern states in the mid-1990's with the reasoning that
the sun rises in the region between 4:30 AM and 5:00 AM - at least one hour
ahead of the rest of the country.
India currently follows a time, which is 5-1/2 hours
ahead of the international standard, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Russia has 11 time zones, while the US and Canada
have six. However, China, which is much broader than India, sticks to only one
time zone, the largest country to do so.
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