Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged that the world move away from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and adopt a new time standard centred on Ujjain, which he referred to as “Mahakal Time”. He made the remarks at a three-day international seminar in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, themed around “Mahakal”, described as the lord of time.
Speaking at the event, Pradhan said Ujjain is a place where spirituality and science converge, and argued that timekeeping there historically evolved as a scientific practice rather than merely a religious ritual. He cited ancient Indian works such as the Surya Siddhanta as examples of traditional scholarship on time and astronomy.
He said time and astronomy are closely linked, and added that the government plans to develop Ujjain both as a centre of worship and as a scientific hub. Pradhan also noted that earlier time calculations in India were based on sunrise, sunset and planetary movements.
Claiming that traditional Indian methods were more accurate than the globally used GMT, he called for moving away from a “Macaulay mindset” and discarding colonial-era education policies in favour of India’s traditional scientific learning. He further said Ujjain—where the equator and the Tropic of Cancer are said to intersect—was historically used for global time calculations, and argued that establishing a “Mahakal Standard Time” would bring global recognition to India’s scientific heritage.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi criticised the proposal, alleging that the BJP’s idea of development is limited to renaming cities and roads. He also mocked the call to change timekeeping, suggesting sarcastically that people might as well discard mobile phones and return to oil lamps.
