Naveen: Leading a change in history

Bhubaneswar, June 9: Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai, Calcutta to Kolkata and Bangalore to Bangaluru — it’s now Orissa’s turn to revert to the old nomenclature.

Seventy-two years after its birth and 61 years after independence, the eastern state is demanding that its “anglicised” name be changed — for good. The renaming process started today with the state cabinet approving a proposal to this effect and amending the Constitution.

The state’s name has been mentioned in the Schedule I of the Constitution as “Orissa” in English and “Udisa” in Hindi. Similarly, state’s lingua franca has been designated as “Oriya” in English and “Udia” in Hindi.

Chief secretary Ajit Tripathy said that a resolution seeking the amendment to the Schedule I would be brought before the Assembly during the next session.

After it is passed in the legislature, the resolution will be sent to the Centre to bring a bill in Parliament to amend the Schedule I.

“After the amendment, Orissa will be called Odisha and the state’s language would be Odia, instead of Oriya,” Tripathy said.

Similarly, the state’s name and its lingua franca in Hindi will be changed from “Udisa” to “Odisha” and from “Udia” to “Odia”, respectively, said the chief secretary.

Realising that the state’s name and its lingua franca is being spelt wrongly both in English and in Hindi, the Naveen Patnaik government had initiated an effort to correct it a year ago by sending a proposal to the Centre.

The department of official languages agreed to the proposal, but advised the government to obtain a formal cabinet approval and adopt a resolution in the Assembly, said home secretary T.K. Mishra, who had taken up the matter with the Centre last month.

Accordingly, a proposal to this effect was placed before the cabinet today and received an approval.