New Delhi, November 11:  In the past one year, the government has given consent to the renaming of at least 25 towns and villages across the nation. Among the ones that are pending proposals is one for the state of West Bengal, reports said. The latest additions to the growing list of places that have been renamed include Allahabad and Faizabad. According to a PTI report, the Union Home Ministry has given consent to the proposals of name change in 25 villages and towns in different parts of the country in last one year, a senior ministry official said.

Reports inform that the decision to rechristen Faizabad district as Ayodhya has not gone down well with many of its residents, who believe that it would eventually “erase the identity” of the historical town.

The renaming process is a long-drawn one with the involvement of multiple central ministries and departments. The proposals to change the names of Allahabad to Prayagraj and Faizabad to Ayodhya are yet to be received by the ministry from the Uttar Pradesh government, the official informed. Meanwhile, several proposals, including the renaming of West Bengal as ‘Bangla’, are pending with the central government. Allahabad Becomes Prayagraj: Know the History Behind the Name.

Take a look at the list of some of the approved name change proposals:

  1. Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh as Prayagraj

  2. Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh as Ayodhya

  3. Rajahmundry as Rajamahendravaram in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh

  4. Outer Wheeler as A P J Abdul Kalam Island, situated in Bhadrak district of Odisha

  5. Arikkod as Areekode in Malappura district of Kerala

  6. Pindari as Pandu-Pindara in Jind district of Haryana

  7. Samphur as Sanphure in Kiphire district of Nagaland

  8. Landgewadi to Narsinhagaon in Sangali district of Maharashtra

  9. Garhi Sampla as Ch. Sir Chhotu Ram Nagar in Rohtak district of Haryana

  10. Khatu Kalan village as Bari Khatu in Nagour district of Rajasthan

  11. Mihgawan Chhakka and Mihgawan Tilia as Mihgawan Sarkar and Mihgawan Ghat respectively in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh

  12. Shukratal Khadar as Sukhtirth Khadar and Shukratal Bangar as Sukhtirth Bangar in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh

It must be noted that the proposal to change the name of Kacharigaon to Phevima in Dimapur district of Nagaland was rejected by the home ministry recently. The home ministry considers such proposals according to the existing guidelines in consultations with agencies concerned, an official informed.

The process of renaming:

  1. The home ministry 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.

  2. These organisations have to confirm that there is no such town or village in their records with a name similar to the proposed one.

  3. The renaming of a state requires amendment of the Constitution with a simple majority in Parliament. For changing the name of a village or town, an executive order is needed.

The proposal to change the name of West Bengal to ‘Bangla’, as suggested by the state government, was recently forwarded by the home ministry to the Ministry of External Affairs for its opinion as the proposed name sounded similar to the name of neighbouring country Bangladesh, the official said. On Thursday, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the state government was considering renaming Ahmedabad as Karnavati and the name change could be affected before next year’s Lok Sabha elections. Allahabad to Turn 'Prayagraj': Justice Markandey Katju Asks Yogi Adityanath to Rename Other Mughal-Era Cities as Well, Submits List.

In 2017, the government had approved the proposal to rename the iconic Mughalsarai railway station to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) station after the Jan Sangh leader who was found dead in the railway station in 1968. Approval was also given to add the word “Maharaj” in Mumbai’s iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. It is now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

The name of any state was changed last time in 2011, when Orissa became Odisha. Names of Bombay was changed to Mumbai in 1995, Madras to Chennai in 1996, Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001. In 2014, the central government had approved the renaming of 11 cities of Karnataka, that included Bangalore as Bengaluru.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 11, 2018 09:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).