Question

The standard time of India is _________________.
A. 4 hours ahead of GMT
B. 4:30 hours behind of GMT
C. 5:30 hours ahead of GMT
D. 5:30 hours behind of GMT

Answer 1

Hint: Standard meridian of India is regarded to the longitude 82.30 degrees East. The local time at this meridian is regarded as the Indian Standard Time (IST) for the whole country.

Complete Answer: The earth’s globe consists of 360 meridians and it is divided into two sections. The Eastern Meridians are referred to as the Meridians ranging from 1-180 while the meridians ranging from 181-360 are referred to as Western Meridians. The longitude of 82.30 degrees East in India passes through the city of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, India. So, the local time at this meridian is taken as the standard time for the whole of India and is known as the Indian Standard Time (IST).

There is a difference in the local times of Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh and the difference between these two states is two hours. So, it is important to adopt the local time of some central meridian of a country as the standard time for the country in order to avoid chaos and confusion.

In countries with a large east-west extent, the variation in local time is more. The earth revolves from west to east. So, those places lying to the east of Greenwich will be ahead Greenwich time and those to the west will be behind Greenwich time. The Indian Standard Time is 5 and a half hours ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Thus, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: The Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) refers to the time at the Prime Meridian. The United Kingdom considers the local time of this meridian to be their standard time. Often, the standard times in different countries are expressed as the difference in the number of hours from Greenwich Mean Time.