Thaindian News

Guwahati, July 9 (IANS) A group of social thinkers will formally press the central government Friday for a separate time zone for the Northeast so that there is optimum utilization of daylight.
“We would submit a formal proposal to the central minister of the Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER) for a separate time zone for the Northeast,” Jahnu Barua, a well-known filmmaker, told IANS Thursday.

A group of academics, journalists, film personalities, and people from diverse fields met in Guwahati to drum up public opinion for a separate time zone for the northeast - with suggestions for advancing the clock by at least 90 minutes.

“The day breaks early in the northeast with the sun normally rising at least 90 minutes to two hours ahead of other Indian cities. For example on Thursday the sunrise time in Arunachal Pradesh was 4.28 a.m. and in Mumbai it was 6.05 a.m., while the sunset time was 6.13 pm and 7.20 pm respectively,” Anirban Das, a geography teacher, said.

“We have every reason to demand a separate time zone for the Northeast, considering the geo-location of the region,” he added.

The group of social thinkers is now planning to broaden the campaign for advancing the clock by roping in lawmakers of the region.

“We need to make productive use of daylight from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. We in the Northeast do nothing and wait for 10 a.m. to go to office. If our clock is advanced by an hour or 90 minutes we can really make productive use of daylight,” Barua said.

Neighbouring Bangladesh recently advanced its clock by an hour, aimed at saving an extra hour of daylight to save power.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is practiced in many countries, exploiting daylight by advancing clocks so that evenings have more natural light and mornings have less.

“In reality Bangladesh is now 90 minutes ahead of Indian Standard Time although the sun rises earlier in the Northeast than in Bangladesh,” Das said.