Consider the following places of India : 1. Itanagar 2. Imphal 3. Agartala 4. Aizawl Which one of the following is the correct chronological order of the above places in terms of sunrise time?

The chronological order of sunrise is determined by the longitudinal position of a place, as the Earth rotates from west to east. Places located further east experience sunrise earlier [3]. Comparing the longitudes of the given cities: Imphal (Manipur) is the easternmost at approximately 93.9°E, followed by Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) at 93.6°E, Aizawl (Mizoram) at 92.7°E, and Agartala (Tripura) at 91.3°E. Although Arunachal Pradesh is the easternmost state [2], Itanagar is slightly west of Imphal. Therefore, the sun rises first in Imphal, then Itanagar, then Aizawl, and finally Agartala. This sequence corresponds to the order 2-1-4-3. The longitudinal difference across India results in a time difference of nearly two hours between the extreme east and west [3], though a single Standard Meridian (82.5°E) is used for uniform time [3].

Sources

1. [3] INDIA PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, Geography Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 1: India — Location > INDIA – LOCATION > p. 2
2. [1] Certificate Physical and Human Geography , GC Leong (Oxford University press 3rd ed.) > Chapter 2: The Earth's Crust > Longitude and Time > p. 11
3. [2] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 18: Latitudes and Longitudes > Indian Standard Time > p. 245