Sri Lanka Standard Time (SLST) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සම්මත වේලාව , Shri Lankavay Sammatha Velava, ta, இலங்கை நியம நேரம்) is the time zone for

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It is 5

hour An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time conventionally reckoned as of a day and scientifically reckoned between 3,599 and 3,601 seconds, depending on the speed of Earth's rotation. There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 ho ...

s and 30

minute The minute is a unit of time usually equal to (the first sexagesimal fraction) of an hour, or 60 seconds. In the UTC time standard, a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of leap seconds (there is a provision to insert a nega ...

s ahead of

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

/ UTC ( UTC+05:30). On 15 April 2006, Sri Lanka Time reverted to match

Indian Standard Time Indian Standard Time (IST), sometimes also called India Standard Time, is the time zone observed throughout India, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments. In military and avia ...

calculated from the

Allahabad Observatory The Allahabad Observatory located in the suburb of Jhusi, just outside Allahabad is the centre responsible for maintaining the Indian Standard Time. The observatory is located at 82.5°E longitude, which translates to an exact time difference ...

in India 82.5 ° longitude East of

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, the reference point for GMT. This time zone applies to the entirety of Sri Lanka. Since 1880, the time zone in Sri Lanka (or formerly, Ceylon) has varied from UTC+05:30 to UTC+06:30. In 1880, Ceylon observed UTC+05:30. During World War II, in January 1942, when the Japanese were on the verge of invading Ceylon, the official time shifted to UTC+06:00. In September 1942, the official time further advanced to UTC+06:30. When the war ended in 1945, Ceylon reverted to UTC+05:30 to be in the same time zone as India. However, in May 1996, Sri Lanka switched to UTC+06:30 in Sri Lanka. In October 1996, official time was moved back by half an hour to UTC+06:00. However,

Tamil Tiger The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

controlled areas observed a time zone of UTC+05:30. Nevertheless, on April 15th. 2006, the government changed the official time to UTC+05:30. By doing so, Sri Lanka aimed to align its time zone with that of India. English writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke who was then staying in Sri Lanka protested against the switch, arguing that it would make life inconvenient to everyone who has to relate to the rest of the world. Sri Lanka does not currently observe

daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

, though it previously did during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

References

{{Asia topic, Time in Time zones Geography of Sri Lanka

See also

References