Question

Describe the effect of East-West extent of India on time.

Answer 1

Hint: The east to the west extent in India extends from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat, with the tiny town of Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh to Ghuar Moti, an inhabited village in Gujarat.

Complete answer: The effects of East-West extent on time have been listed below: -
a. The huge distance between the west to the east leads to a significant difference in local time from meridian to meridian.
b. The local time changes by 4 minutes for every 1∘ difference in longitude (meridian). For example, if it is 12 pm at Greenwich, England (0) then it will be 12:04 pm at 1 meridian and so on.
c. The time difference between the two extreme west and east points (Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh) of the country is about 2 hours, there are about 30 longitudes between these two points.
d. Therefore, the sun rises 2 hours earlier in the East than the West.
It’s important to note that the local time of 82 degrees 30’ E longitude is taken as the Indian Standard Time (IST).
This longitude is also known as the Standard Meridian of India, its time is taken as standard across the country.

Note: The Meridian is an imaginary North-South line on the Earth’s surface that connects both the geographic poles and it is used to indicate longitude. The standard meridian of India is 82 degrees 30′E and it passes through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.