Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Table of contents
Why 82.30′ is selected as standard meridian of India?
Under the mutual understanding of the countries of the world, the Standard Meridian always chosen on a multiple of 7 ° 30 ‘ or 15 ° longitude so that the time is calculated as half an hour (7½ × 4 = 30 minutes) and One hour (15 x 4 = 60 minutes). That is why the 82° 30’ East longitude line chosen as the Standard Longitude Line of India or declared as Indian Standard Time (IST).
Indian Standard Time is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), viz., when it is 6:30 in the morning in Greenwich (London), it will be noon on the same day in India.
Indian standard meridian on map
Countries that have more east-west longitude extensions, will have more than one standard longitude line. That is why there are 5 time zones in USA and 11 time zones in Russia.
Which states pass through the meridian of India?
The standard longitude line of India (82°30’E) passes through Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh (Village Kharavada) (82°30’E), and Champa, Chhattisgarh (82°29′ E). It does not pass-through Allahabad (81° 55’E) as now it told.
Why is India's breadth of 2,933 km (from East to West) less than its length of 3,214 km (from North to South) by 281 km however both the latitudinal and longitudinal extents are 30 degrees.
This is because while going towards the poles the distance between two longitude decreases, whereas the distance between two latitude remains the same everywhere.
