Mirzapur, the nation?s timekeeper

Students from various schools in Delhi traveled to Mirzapur to mark the exact longitude used to calculate the Indian Standard Time.

Till the other day, no one had heard of Mirzapur. But on Saturday, the Bachchans and their friends descended here and this town in Uttar Pradesh thought this was the best thing that could have happened to it, ever. Little did it know that it was the nation’s timekeeper.

HT Image

Students from various schools in Delhi traveled to Mirzapur to mark the exact longitude used to calculate the Indian Standard Time. Students, led by teachers and astronomers, on Saturday identified the Indian Standard Time Line that lies at 82.5 degrees East on the longitude and placed an insignia to mark the site on the basis of which the time for the country is set.

After discovering the exact location that lies just west of Mirzapur town, the students conducted several experiments and also found the local noon time for the town, said Chander Bhushan Devgun, President of NGO Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) that undertook the study tour.

The project concluded with a visit to Mirzapur, the imaginary line on the earth used to calculate the standard time for the country.