Home ministry cleared 25 name changes last year, but state name requires Parliament consent
Even as the Centre has approved the change of names for over 25 towns and villages across the country in the past one year, one among the pending approvals is for the state of West Bengal, proposed to renamed to Bangla, say home ministry officials.
Officials claim that though the process of name change is complicated and involves multiple central ministries and departments, the union home ministry over the last year, has received several proposals, of which it has given consent to 25 villages and town. They added that they were yet to receive proposals from the Uttar Pradesh government to change the names of Allahabad to Prayagraj and Faizabad to Ayodhya.
Some of approved changes include Rajahmundry as Rajamahendravaram in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Outer Wheeler in Odisha's Bhadrak district has been renamed APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Arikkod in Malappura district of Kerala is now Areekode, Pindari in Jind district of Haryana is changed to Pandu-Pindara, and Samphur is now Sanphure in Kiphire district of Nagaland.
However, a proposal to change the name of Kacharigaon to Phevima in Dimapur district of Nagaland was rejected by the home ministry recently, the official said.
Explaining the procedure, home ministry officials said that the ministry considers such proposals according to the existing guidelines in consultations with agencies concerned. The ministry then gives its consent to the change of name of any place after taking no-objections from the ministry of Railways, Department of Posts and Survey of India. These organisations have to confirm that there is no such town or village in their records with a name similar to the proposed one.
The renaming of a state, however, requires an amendment of the Constitution with a simple majority in Parliament. For changing the name of a village or town, an executive order is needed.
(with agency inputs)
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