Sandeep Mishra | TNN
Bhubaneswar: We had got “Orissa” wrong all along; it was always meant to be “Odisha” and not “Orissa”, going by the BJD government’s representation to the Centre. The name of the state created on April 1, 1936, and spelled “Orissa” in the Indian Constitution adopted in 1950,should have been “Odisha”, spelled the way it is pronounced by its people, the state government told the Centre.
The BJD government, taking exception to the manner in which state’s name is spelled in Schedule I of the Constitution, advised the Centre to make the correction and the Union government has in principle agreed to do so, officials said. ‘Get House nod for Odisha name change.The BJD government, has advised the Centre to correct the name of ‘Orissa’ as ‘Odisha’ and the Union government has agreed to act according to the recommendation, officials here said.
The name of the state and its language are mentioned in Schedule I in Devanagari as Udisa and Udia respectively, and ‘Orissa’ in English. ‘‘It ought to be ‘Odisha’ and ‘Odia’ instead,’’ said state home secretary T K Mishra, who earlier this week took up the matter with Union ministry of social justice in New Delhi. ‘‘We had sought the changes about a year ago by writing to the department of official languages, Government of India. The Centre has agreed and asked us to get the formal approval of the state cabinet. It also wants the state assembly to adopt a resolution to this effect. Thereafter, the Centre would carry out the amendment in the Constitution,’’ Mishra added.
The state government, officials said, noticed the mistake when the department of official languages had in 2001 sought its views on changes, if any, required in the name of the state and language.‘‘Nobody had ever stumbled upon these mistakes. No wonder Hindi-speaking people have been wrongly pronouncing Odisha as Udisa. We want the Union government to make the changes so that state’s name is spelt and pronounced correctly,’’ a senior officer said. ‘‘Subsequent to the amendment, we would also want allcommunication of the state government to spell it ‘Odisha’ and not the anglicized ‘Orissa’. The state’s language should also be called Odia, not Oriya,’’ he added.
Considering the changes in states’ names from Mysore to Karnataka, Madras to Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand, a section within the state government had even suggested that Orissa’s name be changed to Kalinga or Utkala by which it was known historically. But the government rejected the proposal, saying it could trigger a controversy.
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What is there in a name.? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So said the Bard. Can we say that about our beloved state Orissa ? Orissa or Odisha, whichever way you may spell it or pronounce it, will conjure up the same image of a minerally rich but industrially backward state, predominantly agricultural but plagued by starvation and hunger in the KBK districts, known for sculptursque temples, arts, crafts, sculpture, ancient dance forms etc.
It remains to be seen what can be achieved by changing the spelling of the name of the state, apart from the business generated from changing of stationery, name plates, sign boards etc. One hopes numerically the new name Odisha ushers in better times for the state in terms of increase in agricultural and industrial growth, employment rate, no natural calamities and overall peace and prosperity for the Odiya people.
Good luck then to Odisha and the Odiyas.
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