Heena Sharma Blog

Each evening, the sun sets more than 90 minutes later in western India than in the east of the country, yet the entire country follows the same time zone. Later sunset means people stay awake longer, which induces sleep deprivation among children and negatively affects their study efforts, a new study by a research scholar at Cornell University has found. As a result of sleeping late, children are less likely to complete primary and middle school, and this effect is most pronounced among poor households, says the study, ‘Poor Sleep: Sunset Time and Human Capital Production’, which analysed the consequences India faces by operating under a single time zone. “ Back-of-the-envelope estimates suggest that India incurs annual human capital costs of roughly $4.1 billion (nearly Rs 29,000 crore) or 0.2% of nominal GDP [gross domestic product] due to the existing policy regulating time zone boundaries,” Maulik Jagnani, the author of the study, told IndiaSpend in an email interview.

The Narendra Modi led government has faced its biggest state elections defeat ever. How will this impact policy-making in the remaining term of the central government up until 2019? And in the silent tussle for primacy internally within the Sangh Parivar, who are the winners and losers after this result? ALSO READ: Election results LIVE: Congress stumped out of Mizoram, MNF wins 12 seats First, why is this the worst defeat ever? Because in Gujarat, the Congress kept snapping at the BJP’s heels but despite this the BJP was able to form a government with just a 2 per cent increase in its vote share, (49.1 over 47.9 in 2012). Morever, the BJP lost heavily against its Lok Sabha 2014 vote share tally of the massive 59.1 per cent vote share it got in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In other words, a slippery slope. In Karnataka, the seat tally for a united BJP (in the 2013 elections Yeddyurappa formed his own party and contested against the BJP) was up a massive 104 from 40 it got in