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The prime meridian is the imaginary 0-degree longitude line passing through Greenwich, London. Established in 1884 at the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC, it serves as the global reference for measuring east-west distance, defining time zones, and dividing the earth into Eastern and Western hemispheres.

It aids international navigation and sets Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Synonyms include the Greenwich Meridian or Geographic Longitude. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan declared on April 6 that it is time to establish “Mahakal Standard Time” (MST) in place of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), claiming that Ujjain is “the original centre of time calculation.” Inaugurating the three-day ‘Mahakal the Master of Time International Conference,’ he stated that Ujjain, Kashi, Kanchi, and Puri Dham are “living laboratories” where science, art, culture, literature, and spirituality converge.

The minister asserted, “Ujjain is the place where the prime meridian and the Tropic of Cancer meet, and ancient world time calculations were made. Therefore, the time has come to logically establish ‘Mahakal Standard Time’ (MST) in place of ‘Greenwich Mean Time’ (GMT). Even modern AI tools recognise that the original centre of time calculation is the area around Ujjain.” Therefore, the need is to re-establish the country’s scientific pride globally, he said. 

The scientific correction

His specific geographical claim: “Ujjain is where the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer meet,” is scientifically untenable.

The Equator (0° latitude) and the Tropic of Cancer (approximately 23.5° N) are parallel circles. By definition, they........

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