Question

Which meridian passing through India is taken as the standard
meridian of India? Why? Where does the standard Meridian pass
and how is the time (lST) calculated?

Answer 1

Dear student,

82⁰30^{' E,}passing through Mirzapur in UP is taken as standard meridian of India.This is because India has a wide east-west extent making it difficult to select the longitudes at the eastern or western ends as Standard meridians as this would lead to serious discrepancies between the time followed and the sun’s position in the sky. To avoid such difficulty and to have a uniform time across the country 82⁰ 30 E has been chosen as the Standard Meridian as it passes through the middle of India reducing such differences.

82⁰ 30 ' E longitude at Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh is taken as standard meridian of India. Mirzapur is located in centre of the eastern most point and western most point in India. Therefore it is recognised as the standard meridian of India.
Standard Meridian passes through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.
IST= GMT+5 hours 30 minutes where GMT is Greenwich MeanTime.

Regards.