Professors at National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) – a Bangalore based think-tank, D.P. Sengupta and Dilip Ahuja suggest that India should advance its clocks by a full half an hour. The proposal was made in a conference on 'Energy, Environment and Development' organized recently in Bangalore.
They propose a shift in Indian Standard Time (IST) from 82.5 degree East to 90 degree East. This would put as six hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), instead of five and a half. By this it will provide us with an extra half hour of daylight in the evening, which would save electricity (1.7 billion units of electricity annually), increase productivity; reduce traffic accidents and street crime. They support their arguments with evidence from studies conducted in the US and UK where Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used.The estimated savings is more than Rs. 850 crore per year..
(The New Indian Express, 25.12.2006)
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