Question

(12) Why has India adopted only one Standard Time?​

Answer 1

Explanation:

Since many meridians pass through it, it is important to adopt the local time of one central meridian of a country as the standard time for the country. Thus, we need a standard meridian for the country. In India 82 ½ °E longitude determines the standard time. This is known as the Indian Standard Time

Answer 2

Answer:

Indian Standard Time is adopted from the 82.5 degrees East longitude, the approximate location of a clock tower in Mirzapur near Allahabad and closest to the corresponding longitude reference line.

Though measurements of a standard time were mentioned in ancient India, they were mostly used for astrological calculations, and not actual time keeping. Instead, the local kings used the Hindu calendar to keep time in their territories. The Jantar Mantar, completed in 1733, is evidence of this with its 90-foot-tall sundials used to calculate local time.

The first time India received a cohesive timezone was in 1802, when a British astronomer of the East India Company named John Goldingham established the longitude of Chennai as 13°5′24″N, 80°18′30″E, five hours and thirty minutes ahead of GMT. This was also the first time that India’s day, like the rest of the world, began at 12 midnight, instead of the previous practice of recording the beginning at sunrise.

However, most towns and cities continued using their own local time measurement systems until the railway system was established in the 1850’s. At that point, keeping a standardised time became more important. Mumbai and Kolkata, being major centres of the British in India gained prominence and were established as two time zones in 1884. Kolkata was set at 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of GMT, and Mumbai at 4 hours and 51 minutes ahead.

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