Lebanon Time Zone Row [UPSC Current Affairs]

An earlier decision of the Lebanese government to postpone the start of daylight saving and the consequent squashing of the announcement in Lebanon led to multiple confusions. In this article, you can read about the time zone row in Lebanon and also about the concept of daylight saving and time zones for the IAS exam geography section.

Lebanon Time Zones

• In summer, Lebanon sets its clocks forward by an hour on the last Sunday in March, but its caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that this practice will be carried out on April 21st. This was intended to relieve those who are fasting during Ramadan.
• This decision was later revoked and then decided to bring about the changes at midnight on Wednesday to Thursday (29th and 30th March).
• This whole issue led to confusion among people, impacted flight and other services and even triggered sectarian responses among different communities in the country.

Additional Information:

What are Time Zones?

• A time zone is a geographical area wherein the same standard time is followed. The world is divided into 24 time zones with Greenwich Meridian as the Prime Meridian.
• Countries with vast east-west extensions have more than one standard time.

Benefits of Time Zones

• Time zones help in having a standard time for a region and thus people will be able to work and plan more effectively.
• It will help in determining the time difference between places, especially between faraway places.

What is the Indian Standard Time?

• Indian Standard Time (IST) is the standard time zone observed throughout India, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. This corresponds to the 82.5-degree east longitude.
• UTC: It is the Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), which was earlier known as the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). 

More on time zones in India in the link.

Daylight Saving

• Why do we need to save daylight?
  • Due to the tilt in the imaginary axis of the earth, seasons occur when it revolves around the sun. During the summer solstice, as places in the northern hemisphere receive maximum insolation, the summer season is experienced and the southern hemisphere experiences the winter season.
  • During winter, natural sunlight will be available for a limited amount of time (as we move away from the equator polewards). And hence it is important to make changes to our time or clocks and make use of this limited natural light.
• Daylight saving:
  • Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clock ahead by one hour from the standard time during the summer and back in the winter season.
  • It is done in order to use natural daylight in a better manner.

India and Daylight Saving

• Countries near the equator do not experience larger variations in daytime hours between different seasons and hence generally do not opt for this method.
• India, being closer to the equator, does not follow daylight saving time.

Lebanon Time Zone Row:- Download PDF Here