Pralhad Joshi Launches White Rabbit-Based Indian Standard Time Network in Bengaluru
Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi commissioned the White Rabbit technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Demonstration Network at the Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL) in Bengaluru, a step towards a secure, indigenous national time-synchronisation system. Developed jointly by the Department of Consumer Affairs, CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (CSIR–NPL) and ISRO, the network delivers UTC(NPLI)-traceable IST using Precision Time Protocol (PTP)-based White Rabbit technology for critical sectors such as banking, financial markets, telecom, power, transport and digital governance. Joshi said accurate national time is becoming a key part of India's digital public infrastructure, and announced that secure IST dissemination between the RRSL Bengaluru and the NSE in Chennai had been successfully verified with CSIR–NPL, ISRO, SEBI, NSE and BSNL.
Key Facts & Details
8 points- 1Pralhad Joshi commissioned the White Rabbit-based IST dissemination network at RRSL Bengaluru.
- 2It was developed jointly by the Department of Consumer Affairs, CSIR–NPL and ISRO.
- 3The system provides UTC(NPLI)-traceable IST using Precision Time Protocol (PTP)-based White Rabbit technology.
- 4It targets critical sectors: banking, financial markets, telecom, power, transport and digital governance.
- 5Secure IST dissemination between RRSL Bengaluru and NSE Chennai was verified with CSIR–NPL, ISRO, SEBI, NSE and BSNL.
Deep Dive
- +CSIR–NPL is India's official timekeeper, maintaining and disseminating Indian Standard Time.
- +White Rabbit is an open, high-precision timing technology (sub-nanosecond) originally developed at CERN.
- +Precise, secure time-stamping underpins tamper-proof financial trades, power-grid stability and telecom synchronisation.
Exam Focus
Which laboratory is India's official custodian of Indian Standard Time, involved in the new White Rabbit dissemination network?
Exam Relevance & Angle
A secure, indigenous time-synchronisation backbone reduces dependence on foreign systems and strengthens cyber-resilience of banking, markets and power grids — a fresh, testable science-and-technology and digital-infrastructure theme linking CSIR–NPL, ISRO and precise timekeeping.
Target Exams
Background & Context
Modern banking, stock exchanges, telecom networks and power grids rely on extremely precise, synchronised time to order transactions, prevent fraud and keep systems stable. UTC(NPLI) is the realisation of Coordinated Universal Time maintained by CSIR–NPL, and Indian Standard Time is set 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of it. Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and the open White Rabbit standard distribute this time over fibre networks with sub-nanosecond accuracy, far tighter than ordinary internet-based time servers.
Test Yourself
1 / 2The White Rabbit-based Indian Standard Time dissemination network was jointly developed by the Department of Consumer Affairs, ISRO and which laboratory?
Source
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