Why in the News?

The Government of India has mandated the use of Indian Standard Time (IST) across all legal, commercial, digital, and administrative sectors.

About Indian Standard Time (IST):

It is the official time zone of India, set at Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +5:30 and based on the 82.5° E longitude passing through Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.
- Neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka also use the same UTC+5:30 offset.
IST meridian passes through 5 Indian states: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
It was established in 1906, replacing older regional time zones like Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras Time.
It is maintained by the National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) using ultra-precise atomic clocks, which lose only one second in millions of years.
India does NOT observe daylight saving time; IST remains constant throughout the year.

GMT is the mean solar time at the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) located at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London.
It was established in 1884 during the International Meridian Conference as the world’s time standard.
It is based on astronomical observations, specifically the mean position of the Sun over time.
It does not change with the seasons and does not observe Daylight Saving Time (DST).
Although now largely replaced by UTC in scientific and civil contexts, GMT is still used in some regions (e.g., the UK during winter months).

UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time.
It was established in 1960 and is maintained by a network of high-precision atomic clocks worldwide.
UTC is adjusted periodically by leap seconds to compensate for the Earth’s irregular rotation speed.
It is used in aviation, computing, space science, and by international organisations like the UN and ITU.
Unlike GMT, which is purely solar-based, UTC combines atomic time (TAI) with occasional corrections for Earth’s rotation.

IST in Context:

It is a government initiative to ensure accurate, synchronised, and secure timekeeping across India.
It is led by the Department of Consumer Affairs, in collaboration with CSIR-NPL and ISRO.
Five Regional Reference Standard Laboratories (RRSLs) are being established in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Faridabad, and Guwahati.
These labs use atomic clocks and protocols like Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) to maintain accuracy within microseconds.

Mandatory Use of IST: IST, as maintained by CSIR-NPL, becomes the sole legally recognized time standard in India.
Prohibition of Foreign Time Sources: Use of foreign systems like GPS time will be banned unless specifically approved by the government.
Sync Requirements: All government bodies, financial institutions, power grids, and telecom operators must synchronize their systems with IST.
Audit and Compliance: The system will be monitored through periodic audits and penalties will be imposed for violations.
Special Exemptions: Activities such as scientific research, astronomy, and national security operations may use alternative time sources after government approval.

[UPSC 2025] Consider the following countries:

I. United Kingdom II. Denmark III. New Zealand IV. Australia V. Brazil How many of the above countries have more than four time zones?

(a) All the five (b) Only four * (c) Only three (d) Only two