Context
Recently, the Union government notified the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026, making Indian Standard Time (IST) the common reference for legal, administrative, commercial and official purposes across India. The rules will come into force 180 days after publication in the Official Gazette.
Explanation
- Indian Standard Time (IST) is based on 82°30′ East longitude, which passes near Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, and is UTC+5:30.
- It passes through five Indian States: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh.
- India follows a single time zone, despite its wide east-west geographical extent.
- CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi is responsible for maintaining and disseminating India’s national time standard.
- The new rules seek uniform and synchronised time-stamping across banking, digital payments, railways, airports, telecommunications, power grids and government records.
- Accurate synchronisation is particularly important for digital transactions, computer networks and time-critical services, where differences between clocks can create operational or legal problems.
- The initiative also seeks to reduce dependence on foreign satellite-based time sources by developing domestic infrastructure for dissemination of accurate IST.
- The rules have been notified under India’s legal metrology framework, administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs.
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