The state of Assam decided to follow the ‘chaibagaan’ time instead of the Indian Standard Time (IST). The bagaan time will be helpful to save energy, reduce power consumption and increase productivity. IST is calculated on the basis of solar time in Allahabad in the northern-central state of Uttar Pradesh. States located to the west of this longitude have more daylight hours as compared to those in the east. Assam lies in the extreme east of the country and borders Bangladesh and Bhutan. This means that the sun sets as early as 16:31 (4:31 p.m.) IST in November and December.
Clocks in India are 5:30 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), making the country one of the few territories with a half-hour UTC offset. If the time zone change is implemented, Assam will be 6:30 hours ahead of UTC.
Note:The chaibagaan time or bagaan time – Introduced by British people over 150 years ago, was set one hour ahead of the Indian Standard Time (IST) for tea estates, collieries and oil industry of Assam. This Baggan time is more suitable for tea plantations.