NEW DELHI: ndia will set up Atomic Clocks to help enable user industries such as internet service providers, mobile phone manufacturers and railways to increase accuracy of time and to end the country’s dependence on US-based National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Officials said this is a being seen as a move towards making India “sovereign in setting time”.
Consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday this will be done for the first time in the country and all users will have the same accuracy in time. Delhi-based National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has 10 atomic clocks and it is currently providing services to the defence forces. Sources said, besides defence, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), also has this system.
Countries including UK, Germany, China and Japan have their own system to maintain time.
“Even a fraction of a seconds difference in time can derail trading, movement of railways and functioning of other such vital agencies,” a ministry official said. He added with this new venture India will also emerge as a service provider in this region.
The ministry has five regional reference standards laboratories in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Faridabad and Guwahati and two more will be set up next year in Varanasi and Nagpur. The atomic clocks will be set up in all these laboratories for which Rs 20 crore has been allocated in 2018-19. Centre plans to spend Rs 100 crore for this scheme in the next two years.
Officials said the agencies or service providers will be synchronised with the servers of these regional laboratories so that there is 100% accuracy in time maintained. A government official said once the time in railways is calibrated with these labs, there will be same time everywhere and no one can raise dispute over accuracy. Even, ISPs will have same timing everywhere and they may save money which they currently pay to NIST for such synchronisation, he added. Source : timesofindia