New Delhi, June 19 -- India will soon abandon GPS-based timekeeping in favour of an indigenous system to safeguard critical sectors from potential foreign disruptions, Union consumer affairs minister Prahlad Joshi announced on Wednesday.

The move represents a significant step towards technological sovereignty as India prepares to rely on a domestically managed network of five atomic clocks rather than the US-controlled Global Positioning System for maintaining Indian Standard Time.

"Currently we depend on an external time source, which is GPS. GPS is owned by the US. India will source time from an indigenous system of five atomic clocks spread over different parts of the country to accurately keep the time, down to nanoseconds," said As...