Govt to shortly notify rules for mandatory use of Indian Standard Time: Union Minister Pralhad Joshi

To make Indian Standard Time (IST) mandatory, the government will shortly notify Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2025. The draft rules were issued in January 2025 for stakeholders' feedback.
This initiative will translate into more secure digital transactions, accurate billing in utilities, reduced cybercrime risks and synchronized timekeeping in transportation and communication. Presently, several systems rely on foreign sources of time.
New Delhi, Jun 18 (PTI) The government has decided to make mandatory the use of Indian Standard Time for all legal, commercial, digital and administrative activities, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the Department of Consumer Affairs organized a round table conference on Time Dissemination here.
Joshi emphasized on the strategic significance of the Time Dissemination Project being implemented by the department in collaboration with CSIR-NPL and ISRO.
He said the upcoming rules will mandate synchronization of all legal, commercial, digital and administrative activities with IST, 'prohibiting the use of alternative time references unless explicitly authorised'.
'We are notifying the rules. In that, we are now One Nation One Time… These rules will be mandated very shortly. Exact date will be decided at a later stage,' Joshi told reporters here.
'In today's data-driven world, the un-synchronised clocks lead to digital mismatches, investigation challenges and network inefficiencies. Several systems currently rely on foreign timing sources like GPS, posing the risk of cyber attacks, inconsistency and non-traceable time stamps,' he said.
This project addresses a long-standing gap of institutionalising the IST as the official legal time of India, the minister said.
'Since we have decided to implement and notify these rules…and that is going to be mandatory, we had a round table conference of all stakeholders…,' the minister said adding that 'very shortly, IST will be a reality. We will have our own time'.
The conference witnessed active participation from over 100 stakeholders representing sectors, including telecom, financial services and railways.
'For the common man, this initiative translates into more secure digital transactions, accurate billing in utilities, reduced cybercrime risks and synchronized timekeeping in transportation and communication, ensuring fairness, transparency, and trust in day-to-day services,' an official statement said.
The minister underscored that precise and uniform dissemination of IST across sectors such as financial markets, power grids, telecommunications, transportation and others are essential to ensuring fairness, accuracy and national security.
'The initiative aims to deliver IST with millisecond to microsecond accuracy through five Regional Reference Standard Laboratories (RRSLs) equipped with atomic clocks and secure synchronization protocols like NTP and PTP,' it added.
Nidhi Khare, secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, said ' So far we were dependent on external sources for time dissemination. We have Indianised the entire ecosystem of time and the department is now ready with the dissemination process.' She stressed on the need for accurate, secure and legally mandated dissemination of IST to ensure uniformity across strategic and non-strategic sectors.
She explained that under the Time Dissemination Project, the department in collaboration with CSIR-NPL and ISRO is establishing an advanced infrastructure comprising five Regional Reference Standard Laboratories (RRSLs) in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Faridabad, and Guwahati.
These centres are being equipped with atomic clocks and secure synchronization systems using Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) to ensure millisecond to microsecond accuracy.
The secretary's presentation outlined the risks posed by current reliance on foreign time sources, including cybersecurity vulnerabilities like spoofing and jamming.
She stated that the implementation of these rules would be a crucial step toward ensuring traceability, enhancing operational reliability, and fostering national time sovereignty.
The initiative is a major step in building a trusted and standardized digital ecosystem across the country.
The Time Dissemination initiative is the result of sustained inter-ministerial coordination and technical consultations since 2018.
Participating stakeholders supported the government's plan to notify the rules, the statement said. PTI MJH ANU
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Hindustan Times

24 minutes ago

• Hindustan Times

Pakistan discovers new oil and gas reserve in Sindh

Pakistan's state-owned Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDCL) exploration firm has discovered a new oil and gas reserve in the Sindh province. Experts reportedly said that the latest discovery shows that Pakistani soil still houses some untapped energy.(Reuters/Representative Image) The exploration firm made the discovery earlier this month at Kharo at its Faakir-1 wildcat well, said Field Operations officer Saleem Khan on Saturday. 'The discovery was made after drilling to a depth of 4,185 metres, the well tested at 6.4 million cubic feet per day of gas and 55 barrels per day of condensate from the Lower Goru formation,' Khan added. According to experts, the latest discovery shows that Pakistani soil still houses some untapped energy, news agency PTI reported. ALSO READ | 5 facts on Strait of Hormuz, the focal point of global oil trade 'It's not a gusher by global standards, but it's a critical domestic win. It is a significant breakthrough and a step forward in tapping and finding new reservoir blocks," Khan said. Since last year, the ODCL has made at least two major discoveries; One in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province's Lakki Marwat, wherein gas and condensate reserves were found with an initial production of 2.114 million cubic feet of gas and 74 barrels of crude oil per day. Another discovery was when the firm found substantial oil and gas reserves in Attock, Punjab. ALSO READ | Massive oil discovery in Pakistan spurs hope of economic revival: Report The official reportedly said that with Pakistan's growing energy needs, the ODCL has been collaborating with private firms to conduct more such explorations across the country. Last year in September, it was reported that Pakistan had found large deposits of natural gas and oil in its territorial waters after a three-year survey. A senior security official at the time had said that these reserves hold the potential to significantly boost Pakistan's economy and would be key in forming a 'blue water economy'. At present, Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, holding more than 300 billion barrels, followed by Saudi Arabia, which has over 295 billion barrels in oil reserves. (With inputs from PTI)

The Hindu

34 minutes ago

• The Hindu

Several senior leaders of Imran Khan's party get relief from Pak courts

Several senior leaders of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party have been granted relief by courts in protest-related cases, a media report said on Sunday (June 22, 2025). Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including its chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub, were on Saturday acquitted by a court in Islamabad in two protest-related cases from last year, the Dawn newspaper reported. Islamabad Judicial Mag­istrate Shahzad Ah­med anno­unced the verdict in the cases related to a protest on April 26 last year. The protest moved from the office of PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen towards the Karachi Com­pany, reportedly in violation of Section 144 and other legal provisions. After hearing all arguments, the court acquitted Barrister Gohar, Omar Ayub, Ali Bukhari, Shoaib Shaheen, Malik Rafique, Amir Dogar, Amir Mughal and others. Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore granted bail to former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a May 9, 2023, riots case. ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill announced the verdict in the case related to the Shadman Police Station attack case during the May 9 riots that erupted after the arrest of PTI founder Khan. The judge deferred till June 26 a decision on another bail petition of the PTI leader in a case relating to the burning of police vehicles near Lahore Corps. Mr. Qureshi's counsel had argued that the PTI leader was not even present in Lahore on May 9 — the day of the alleged attack — and was in Karachi with his wife for her medical treatment. The counsel stated that the allegation of conspiracy against Mr. Qureshi regarding the May 9 attacks was not proven and the petitioner should be granted bail, as many co-suspects in the same case had already been allowed bail. Earlier, former Punjab governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema also filed a bail petition in the same Shadman Police Station attack case. Mr. Khan is booked in several cases in Lahore in connection with the May 9, 2023, violence, including for allegedly inciting his supporters to attack government and military buildings, which erupted after his arrest by paramilitary Rangers from the Islamabad High Court premises. The 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was booked in multiple cases.

The Print

an hour ago

• The Print

Gandhinagar civic body's maiden municipal bond issue oversubscribed 9 times

The bonds, carrying a coupon rate of 7.65 per cent, have positioned Gandhinagar on the national map for urban financial innovations, it said. The Rs 25-crore bond offering garnered bids worth Rs 225 crore in just one hour during the subscription window on the National Stock Exchange, reflecting strong investor confidence in the civic body's financial credentials, the corporation said in a statement. Gandhinagar, Jun 21 (PTI) Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation's (GMC) debut municipal bond issue received an overwhelming response from investors, being oversubscribed nine times, marking a historic financial milestone. The Rs 25 crore raised will be used for the development of iconic and citizen-friendly infrastructure, enhancing traffic efficiency and commuter convenience, it added. With this, GMC has become the youngest municipal corporation in the country to successfully tap the bond market. It is also the fifth urban local body in Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot and the 17th in India to raise funds through municipal bonds. In addition, Gandhinagar is expected to receive around Rs 3.25 crore in interest subsidy under the AMRUT scheme, further amplifying the impact of the raised capital. PTI HG TRB This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.