Centre drafts rules to make IST mandatory for 'One Nation, One Time'
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New Delhi: The Centre’s Department of Consumer Affairs on Monday unveiled the Draft Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2025, aiming to achieve the vision of "One Nation, One Time" by synchronizing time across the country.
The proposed rules are designed to standardize the use of Indian Standard Time (IST) nationwide, ensuring precise and unified timekeeping for various sectors, including strategic, industrial, and societal applications. This is crucial for sectors like telecommunications, navigation, power grid synchronization, banking, digital governance, and scientific research such as deep space navigation and gravitational wave detection.
Currently, IST is not mandatorily adopted by all telecom service providers (TSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs), many of whom rely on foreign time sources like GPS. The new rules will ensure all networks and systems are synchronized to IST, which is critical for national security, real-time applications, and the smooth functioning of vital infrastructure.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has published the draft rules for public consultation, inviting feedback until February 14. This initiative is part of a collaborative effort between the Department, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to disseminate IST with millisecond-to-microsecond accuracy. The plan involves setting up infrastructure to distribute IST from five legal metrology laboratories across India.
An inter-ministerial committee was earlier formed to create a policy framework, regulation, and legislation under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, for the adoption of IST.
The draft rules allow exceptions for scientific, astronomical, and navigational purposes, subject to prior government approval. Compliance will be closely monitored through audits, with penalties for violations. The new regulations aim to streamline financial transactions, coordinate emergency responses, and ensure consistent scheduling of public transportation.
With IANS inputs