Editing Indian Standard Time (section)

==Criticism and proposals==
The country's east–west distance of more than {{convert|2,933|km|mi}} covers over 29° of longitude, resulting in the sun rising and setting almost two hours earlier on India's [[Anjaw district|eastern]] border than in the [[Rann of Kutch]] in the far west. Inhabitants of the [[Northeast India|northeastern states]] have to advance their clocks with the early sunrise to avoid the extra consumption of energy after daylight hours.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1501252.stm |title=India investigates different time zones|access-date=2006-11-25 |last=Sen |first=Ayanjit |date=2001-08-21 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

In the late 1980s, a team of researchers proposed separating the country into two or three time zones to conserve energy. The binary system that they suggested involved a return to British-era time zones, but the recommendations were not adopted.<ref name="bbc"/><ref name="thehindu2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/01/07/stories/2002010700130300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020324174028/http://hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/01/07/stories/2002010700130300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2002-03-24|title=A matter of time|access-date=2006-11-25|first=S.|last=Muthiah|date=2012-09-24 |work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref>

In 2001, the government established a four-member committee under the [[Ministry of Science and Technology (India)|Ministry of Science and Technology]] to examine the need for multiple time zones and daylight saving.<ref name="bbc"/> The findings of the committee, which were presented to [[Parliament of India|Parliament]] in 2004 by the Minister of Science and Technology, [[Kapil Sibal]], did not recommend changes to the unified system, stating that 'the prime meridian was chosen with reference to a central station, and that the expanse of the Indian State was not large.'<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dst.gov.in/admin_finance/un-sq1007.htm |title=Standard Time for Different Regions |access-date=2006-11-25 |date=2004-07-22 |work=Department of Science and Technology |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928010543/http://dst.gov.in/admin_finance/un-sq1007.htm |archive-date=28 September 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Though the government has consistently refused to split the country into multiple time zones, provisions in labour laws such as the ''Plantations Labour Act, 1951'' allow the union and state governments to define and set the local time for a particular industrial area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nrcw.nic.in/shared/sublinkimages/19.htm |title=A matter of time |access-date=2006-11-25 |work=National Resource Centre for Women |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060319181936/http://nrcw.nic.in/shared/sublinkimages/19.htm |archive-date=19 March 2006 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In [[Assam]], tea gardens follow a separate time zone, known as the ''Chaibagan'' or ''Bagan'' time ('Tea Garden Time'), which is one hour ahead of IST.<ref name="HindustanTimes2008">{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/India/Change-clock-to-bagantime/Article1-304181.aspx |title=Change clock to bagantime |access-date=2008-09-22 |last=Rahul Karmakar |date=2012-09-24 |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606065730/http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/india/Change-clock-to-bagantime/Article1-304181.aspx |archive-date=6 June 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>  Still, Indian Standard Time remains the only officially used time.

In 2014, Chief Minister of Assam [[Tarun Gogoi]] started campaigning for another time zone for [[Assam]] and other [[northeast India|northeastern states]] of India.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gogoi-for-separate-time-zone-for-Assam/articleshow/28252502.cms?referral=PM|title=Gogoi for separate time zone for Assam - Times of India|work=The Times of India|access-date=2018-05-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/india-could-get-second-time-zone-with-assam-one-hour-ahead-466326?curl=1388743528|title=India could get second time zone with Assam one hour ahead|website=ndtv.com}}</ref> However, the proposal would need to be cleared by the [[Government of India|union government]].

In June 2017, the [[Department of Science and Technology (India)|Department of Science and Technology]] (DST) indicated that it is once again studying the feasibility of two time zones for India. Proposals for creating an additional Eastern India Time (EIT at [[UTC+06:00]]), shifting default IST to [[UTC+05:00]] and daylight saving (Indian Daylight Time for IST and Eastern India Daylight Time for EIT) starting on 14 April ([[Ambedkar Jayanti]]) and ending on 2 October ([[Gandhi Jayanti]]) was submitted to DST for consideration.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/government-assessing-feasibility-of-different-time-zones-in-india/articleshow/59268686.cms|title=Government assessing feasibility of different time zones in India|date=2017-06-22|work=The Economic Times|access-date=2017-08-18}}</ref>{{update inline|date=February 2020}}