The standard meridian of India passes close to which town?
- A.Nagpur
- B.Mirzapur
- C.Jabalpur
- D.Kanpur
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Mirzapur, in Uttar Pradesh. The meridian of 82 degrees 30 minutes east passes near this town, and its local time is kept as Indian Standard Time across the whole country.
Option A, Nagpur, is often chosen because the city is known as being near the geographical centre of the country, but the standard meridian does not run through it. Option C, Jabalpur, and option D, Kanpur, are other central Indian towns offered to confuse the candidate. The meridian was chosen because it runs through the middle of the country in terms of longitude, so that the difference between the clock and the sun stays within roughly an hour at either end, even though India spans nearly 30 degrees of longitude from the Rann of Kachchh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east.
Read the full article: Latitudes, Longitudes and Time: Grid, IST and Date Line
Practice Questions
View allIndian Standard Time is based on which meridian?
- A.75 degrees east
- B.82 degrees 30 minutes east
- C.88 degrees 30 minutes east
- D.90 degrees east
Show answer
This meridian passes near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh and runs roughly through the middle of the country, so it was adopted as the standard meridian of India.
Read the full explanation →One degree of longitude corresponds to how much difference in time?
- A.One minute
- B.Four minutes
- C.Fifteen minutes
- D.One hour
Show answer
The earth completes one rotation of 360 degrees in 24 hours, that is 1,440 minutes, and dividing 1,440 by 360 gives four minutes for every degree of longitude.
Read the full explanation →The Tropic of Cancer does not pass through which of the following Indian states?
- A.Jharkhand
- B.Chhattisgarh
- C.Odisha
- D.Tripura
Show answer
The Tropic of Cancer passes through eight states, namely Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.
Read the full explanation →Which is the only parallel of latitude that is a great circle?
- A.The equator
- B.The Tropic of Cancer
- C.The Arctic Circle
- D.The Tropic of Capricorn
Show answer
A great circle is one whose plane passes through the centre of the sphere and which therefore divides it into two equal halves.
Read the full explanation →The Prime Meridian passes through which place?
- A.Paris
- B.Greenwich
- C.Rome
- D.Washington
Show answer
The meridian running through it was accepted as the zero meridian, from which all longitudes are counted east and west, and its local time is Greenwich Mean Time, the reference for the world's standard times.
Read the full explanation →