Lok Sabha approves Orissa’s name as ‘Odisha’, Oriya as ‘Odia’

NEW DELHI - On the first day of Parliament’s Winter Session, the Lok Sabha here today passed the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill and approved the name of Orissa state to ‘Odisha’, and its language to ‘Odia’ from Oriya.

The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, seeking change of the State’s name, was introduced in the 2010 Budget Session. It was passed by electronic voting in Lok Sabha today.

“The Motion is carried by the majority of the total membership of the house and by majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present in voting. The Bill (Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010) as amended is passed by the requisite majority in accordance with provision of Article 368 of the Constitution,” said Meira Kumar, Lok Sabha Speaker.

The Central Government had received a proposal from the Orissa Government in 2008 after the State Assembly moved a Bill to change both names, in deference to the manner in which the name of the State is pronounced in the local language.

The State till date was called ‘Udisa’ in Hindi and ‘Orissa’ in English, and its language called ‘Udiya’ in Hindi and ‘Oriya’ in English as per the Constitution.

There have been many cities or States which have been renamed after independence, including Kanpur, formerly called Cawnpore, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Pune (Poona), Kochi (Cochin) and the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), which became Arunachal Pradesh. (ANI)