Arguing that Ujjain was the original hub of time calculation in the ancient world, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan floated establishing a new global time standard called Mahakal Standard Time to replace Greenwich Mean Time.
An ambitious proposal to reset the world’s clocks to an ancient Indian reference point was put forward by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who called for replacing Greenwich Mean Time with a new ‘Mahakal Standard Time’ (MST).
On a visit to Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain, Pradhan said the ancient city, long associated with astronomy and timekeeping, should be recognised as the global standard for calculating time instead of an imaginary line passing through a town in England that was determined by “colonisers”.
“Ujjain is the place where the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer meet and ancient world time calculations were made,” Pradhan said, as quoted by PTI. “Therefore, the time has come to logically establish ‘Mahakal Standard Time’ (MST) in place of ‘Greenwich Mean Time’ (GMT).”
The move would help “re-establish the country’s scientific pride globally”, he stated.
The BJP leader made the remarks after inaugurating the three-day Mahakal: The Master of Time International Conference at the city’s planetarium complex on Friday. He also unveiled the Ujjain Science Centre and launched a science exhibition.
Pradhan also called for undoing the legacy of colonial-era education policies, saying India must shed the “Macaulay mindset” within the next decade.
“Strengthening the Science Centre and Planetarium in Ujjain is a major step in this direction, enabling future generations to move forward with a scientific outlook. Ujjain is a place where the distance between spirituality and science disappears and a new vision is born,” he added.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who accompanied Pradhan, supported the idea, saying Ujjain had historically been a global centre for astronomy.
“In Ujjain, timekeeping is not merely religious but also thoroughly scientific, as our ancestors established ages ago through texts like the Surya Siddhanta. Time and space are inextricably linked,” Yadav said.
The chief Minister noted that traditional Indian systems of time measurement were based on sunrise, sunset and planetary motion. This made them “more accurate than Greenwich Mean Time (GMT),” he claimed.
Yadav added his government aims to develop Ujjain as both a religious and scientific hub.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi scoffed at Pradhan’s MST proposal. He said it reflected how bankrupt BJP’s development agenda is.