How are the names of cities and states changed in India?
Change of name of a city or a street is concerned with the state legislature. Whereas the procedure to change the name of a state involves the parliament, the state, and the president.
After independence, reorganization of the state happened, during which renaming of states and cities also took place. The Constitution of India came into force on 26th of January 1950. Article 3(e) deals with the renaming of states. Schedule 1 gives the names of states and union territories and how they were divided or merged after the British rule.
After independence,
States:
In 1956, Madhya Bharat was changed to Madhaya Pradesh.
In 2006, Uttaranchal was renamed as Uttar Pradesh and
In 2010, Orrissa was changed to Odisha.
Cities:
In 1995, Bombay was renamed to Mumbai under the Shiv Sena government.
In 1996, Madras was changed to Chennai during the DMK rule.
And most recently, Allahabad has become Prayagraj under the rule of BJP.
Let's see the procedure to changes these names..
To change the name of states, a bill is introduced the before the members of the parliament on the recommendation of the president. The bill is also sent to the concerned state for opinion even though the opinion does not bind on the parliament or the president. If the simple majority consisting of both, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members vote in favour of the name change, the bill is passed. After the approval of the president, it becomes the law and the name of the state is changed.
In the case of a city or street,
The power to change its name lies with the state legislature. Here an MLA raises a resolution to change the name of the particular city or street. The issue will be deliberated upon and consequences will be discussed. Again if the voters in majority agree with the resolution, the bill is passed and the city's name is changed.
MLAs are directly elected and MPs are indirectly elected by the people of the country but do they act according to the people's wish? Should the common people residing the state/ territory be consulted and asked for opinion, should a poll be conducted if such a bill is raised in the legislative assembly or parliament before they change of name?