The Indian government is planning to implement a policy requiring the mandatory adoption of Indian Standard Time (IST) nationwide, according to a senior official from the consumer affairs ministry.
The policy aims to synchronize all networks and computers to IST, ensuring that telecom and internet service providers, power grids, banks, and stock exchanges adopt IST as well. Currently, these providers are using servers synchronized to other sources, such as the Global Navigation Satellite System.
The Department of Consumer Affairs is working with the National Physical Laboratory and the Indian Space Research Organisation on a project to generate and disseminate accurate time traceable to IST. The ministry is also developing a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework for mandatory adoption of IST under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009.
Consultants will be hired to assess the requirements of time synchronization, study best international practices, and develop plans and procedures for effective implementation.
The project, which will be implemented with the National Physical Laboratory and the Indian Space Research Organisation, aims to create technology and infrastructure to disseminate IST from five locations across India to all telecom operators, power grids, financial institutions, data centres, and common citizens.
These locations are the Regional Reference Standard Laboratories of the Department of Consumer Affairs in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Faridabad, and Guwahati. Upon completion, the project is expected to enhance national security and reduce error in time synchronization.
Precise time is essential for the country’s strategic and non-strategic sectors, including navigation, telecommunication, internet, power grid synchronization, banking systems, digital governance, transport systems, financial transactions, defence systems, and upcoming technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things.
It is also necessary for high-end research in science, including the measurement of fundamental physical constants, the detection of gravitational waves, geodesy, deep space navigation, and radio telescopes
Global Navigation Satellite System Indian government Indian Standard Time internet service providers National Physical Laboratory telecom
Last modified: January 7, 2023
