IRAN: DAYLIGHT SAVING ABOLISHED FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS

adnkronos international ^ | 20 March, 2006

[nuconvert]

IRAN: DAYLIGHT SAVING ABOLISHED FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS

Tehran, 20 March (AKI) - Daylight saving, which was due to come into force in Iran on Tuesday - the first day of the Iranian new year - has been abolished by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Changing the clocks with the seasons was introduced in Iran in 1990 to try to reduce energy consumption. Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham justified the decision to eliminate daylight saving on the grounds that when the legal hour changes many faithful have difficulty in calculating with precision the hour of prayer.

In the same presidential decree, Ahmadinejad said that students returning from New Years holidays must turn up for school at 7 am instead of 8am, and public officers will open an hour earlier, at 7.30 am local time.

The decision by Ahmadinejad to suspend daylight saving on religious grounds, ignoring the economic motivations of the government in 1990, has been criticised by reformists and economists.

"The country is is no condition to increase public spending " warned economist Fereidoun Khavanad. "With the Iranian nuclear dossier before the Security Council it does not seem very intelligent to increase enegy consumption rather than diminish it" added Khavand.

Under Daylight Saving Time, official time is adjusted forward, usually by one hour, remaining that way for the spring and summer months. The measure is intended to provide a better match between the hours of daylight and the active hours of work and school and allow more efficient use of natural sunlight resource in summer time.

[kerryusama04]

I loathe daylight saving time. Why not just change it half an hour once and be done with it?

[Mike Darancette]

Changing the clocks with the seasons was introduced in Iran in 1990 to try to reduce energy consumption.

The way the country is heading it will soon have a soft green glow 24/7.

[Dan Middleton]

Does anybody remember an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer decided not to change his watch and hilarity ensued?

[tomnbeverly]

Yeah so much for the Nuclear power plant rationale. If Iran is hurting for energy so badly it needs a nuclear power plant then why would the government cause more energy usage by ignoring daylight savings time.

More proof they want the bomb.

[Zavien Doombringer]

We don't need DLS either...

[antiRepublicrat]

This is great news! Remember the suicide bombers who blew up in their car because Palestine didn't set their clocks to DST? More funny terrorist hijinks to follow. :)

[BenLurkin]

Amen, right on, you said it brother, yeah ba-by, yessiree,ditto, exactly, bump, and BTTT. (Everybody please tell your Congress critters!

[Larry Lucido]

I've stopped recognizing leap years in 1980. As far as I'm concerned, today is March 27.

[Horatio Gates]

There goes the late tee off times on the links

[BenLurkin]

Daylight savings time is a screwy idea. I've never seen any evidence that it saves any amount of energy for anybody.

[KarlInOhio]

In the same presidential decree, Ahmadinejad said that students returning from New Years holidays must turn up for school at 7 am instead of 8am, and public officers will open an hour earlier, at 7.30 am local time.

So they're doing exactly the same thing without adjusting the clocks. DST is just a way of enforcing "Early to bed, early to rise..."

[Alouette]

Daylight Savings Time is an eeeeville Zionist plot.

[Fintan]

So do the airstrikes happen an hour earlier or an hour later?

[ladtx]

I hate daylight savings time. Down here in Texas that extra hour of daylight burns up my grass.

[SittinYonder]

Does anybody remember an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer decided not to change his watch and hilarity ensued?

This is essentially the same thing. Ahmadinejad, in fact, is very similar to the Cosmo Kramer of TV's Seinfeld both in terms of his mannerisms and genius comical timing. When Ahmadinejad trips coming through Jerry's apartment door ... ROFLOL!

[BenLurkin]

You're supposed to save that hour for January.

[KarlInOhio]

I hate daylight savings time. Down here in Texas that extra hour of daylight burns up my grass.

Here in Ohio we need the extra hour of daylight. Our grass stops growing and turns brown within a few weeks of turning back to standard time.

[ladtx]

I tried saving those extra hours but Mrs ladtx figured out a way to use it so she can get more work out of me.

[rellimpank]

--snickering and giggling as I recall what the history books have to say about the fundamentalist objections to time zones in this country when the railroads convinced Congress to put the entire country on standardized time--and the reaction in small towns in Wisconsin to DST rather than "God's time"--when the urbanites in Milwaukee and Madison forced it on us farm folk back in the early 'fifties---