Tripura: ARPAN Society Pushes For Separate Time Zone To Boost Northeast Development

AGARTALA: Ahead of the 72nd Plenary session of the Northeast Council (NEC), ARPAN Society, a leading civil society organization in Tripura, has written to the Governors, Chief Ministers of all eight northeastern states, and the Minister of Development of Northeast Region (DONER), requesting the introduction of a separate time zone for the region.

The letter, referring to a proposal from the CSIR - National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), argues for the creation of IST-II (UTC+6:30), which would be more in sync with the sunrise and sunset timings of the region. The present Indian Standard Time (IST) of UTC+5:30 is considered to be out of sync for the northeastern states, where the average difference in sunrise and sunset times from Delhi is about 1.30 hours.

The ARPAN Society has brought to light the fact that the current time zone causes wastage of daylight hours. The sun rises as early as 4 am in Arunachal Pradesh, while the activities of the day start at least 5-6 hours later. Thus, the shift not only reduces working hours but plays with the biological clock, giving rise to fatigue and health issues.

It further claimed that having a separate time zone will increase productivity, be more beneficial for public well-being, and also help meet the net-zero emissions goal of India by conserving energy. In addition, it proposed that the Northeast adopt a working schedule that begins at 9 am during winter and 8:30 am during summer, which will align better with the region's natural time cycle.

ARPAN calls on the NEC to talk about this issue in their plenary session to expedite regional development.

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