Staff Reporter, “Stress on separate time zone for region”, The Assam 23 January 2010 .
GUWAHATI, Jan 23 – The Northeast has for long been held hostage by adherence to a standard time that has adversely affected its people. It is imperative that a separate time zone was created for the region so that both quality of life and economic productivity could take off after decades of economic doldrums.
This was underlined in speeches delivered by noted filmmaker Jahnu Baruah and some others in an open discussion on ‘Separate Time Zone for Northeast’ organised by KC Das Commerce College in the city’s ITA Centre for Performing Arts.
Baruah pointed out that residents of the region, especially office-goers, had a bad deal when it came to use of daylight hours as they had to follow a standard time based on a longitude much to their west. While in summer they had to start their days rather late, in winter they had to work till dark.
Consequently, apart from the people having to work against the biological clock, much daylight and time was wasted every day. Loss of daylight hours also resulted in a cascading effect in productivity, energy use, and social behaviour and attitudes, he mentioned.
He reasoned that the Northeast has lost a “minimum average of 2 to 3 hours of productivity every day” by sticking to the Indian Standard Time, which in 62 years afterIndependence
In order to alter the situation he favoured a new standard time based on the longitude 105 degree East and seven hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
The award winning filmmaker who had for two decades studied the situation in Northeast made a comparative study of lifestyles in Kohima and Mumbai stating that in a range of daily activities, people in Kohima or any other North-eastern settlement were disadvantaged for following a standard time that was actually much behind.
Referring toBangladesh Singapore Singapore Bangladesh
It was also pointed out that countries with wide longitudinal extent had several time zones for the benefit of the population. TheUS Canada Russia
The impact of abiding by the Indian Standard time was felt in different spheres in the Northeast, and according to Baruah, it could be linked to some social problems like alcoholism as in the present situation youths could find ample time to indulge in drinking.
Speaking on the occasion, BM Saikia, an engineer with the Assam State Electricity Board highlighted the issue of Daylight Saving Time with regard to energy consumption in the Northeast. He quoted Benjamin Franklin who advocated DST with the adage ‘early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’.
He was of the opinion that changes in the standard time were affected with two motives – to shift human activity and to make better use of daylight.
Today’s discussions resulted in adoption of two resolutions – submission of a memorandum to the Union Government and all MPs of Northeast, and holding similar discussions across the region to create public opinion.
This was underlined in speeches delivered by noted filmmaker Jahnu Baruah and some others in an open discussion on ‘Separate Time Zone for Northeast’ organised by KC Das Commerce College in the city’s ITA Centre for Performing Arts.
Baruah pointed out that residents of the region, especially office-goers, had a bad deal when it came to use of daylight hours as they had to follow a standard time based on a longitude much to their west. While in summer they had to start their days rather late, in winter they had to work till dark.
Consequently, apart from the people having to work against the biological clock, much daylight and time was wasted every day. Loss of daylight hours also resulted in a cascading effect in productivity, energy use, and social behaviour and attitudes, he mentioned.
He reasoned that the Northeast has lost a “minimum average of 2 to 3 hours of productivity every day” by sticking to the Indian Standard Time, which in 62 years after
In order to alter the situation he favoured a new standard time based on the longitude 105 degree East and seven hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
The award winning filmmaker who had for two decades studied the situation in Northeast made a comparative study of lifestyles in Kohima and Mumbai stating that in a range of daily activities, people in Kohima or any other North-eastern settlement were disadvantaged for following a standard time that was actually much behind.
Referring to
It was also pointed out that countries with wide longitudinal extent had several time zones for the benefit of the population. The
The impact of abiding by the Indian Standard time was felt in different spheres in the Northeast, and according to Baruah, it could be linked to some social problems like alcoholism as in the present situation youths could find ample time to indulge in drinking.
Speaking on the occasion, BM Saikia, an engineer with the Assam State Electricity Board highlighted the issue of Daylight Saving Time with regard to energy consumption in the Northeast. He quoted Benjamin Franklin who advocated DST with the adage ‘early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’.
He was of the opinion that changes in the standard time were affected with two motives – to shift human activity and to make better use of daylight.
Today’s discussions resulted in adoption of two resolutions – submission of a memorandum to the Union Government and all MPs of Northeast, and holding similar discussions across the region to create public opinion.
