Parliament approves new name for Orissa

New Delhi, March 24 (PTI) Eastern Indian state of
Orissa will hereafter be called 'Odisha' and the Oriya
language will be known as 'Odia' with Parliament giving
approval to amendment of the Constitutionand also passing the
related bill.
The Upper House of Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha,
passed the Orissa (the Alteration of Name) Bill and adopted
the Constitution (113th) Amendment Bill after a brief debate
with members from all parties hailing the move as "historic"
for people of the state.
Supported by all parties, including the Biju Janta
Dal, the Constitution Amendment Bill was adopted by all 169
members present and voting.
Such a bill requires support of at least two-third of
members present and voting. Besides, the majority of the
strength of the House should be present for voting. The Upper
House has a strength of 245 members.
The Lower House, Lok Sabha, has already adopted these
measures after the Centre received the resolution passed by
the state Assembly.
While there was all round support for the measure, BJP
and Congress members sought to target Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik charging him with non-performance and heading a
government facing scams.
The bills were piloted by Home Minister P Chidambaram.
However, the electronic voting system witnessed glitches
during the division so much so that even Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's vote was also cast wrongly.
Participating in the debate, members said the name
change was the process of decolonisation as Britishers had
changed the Indian names of cities and states.
Pyarimohan Mohapatra (BJD) said it was a "great
moment" for people of the state and added that with the change
of name, they are getting back their pride.
R C Khuntia (Cong) rued that the state, which was
prosperous once, has become poverty-stricken. He, however,
hoped the change of name will fulfil aspirations of people.
He said the state was facing many scams and corruption
charges in the present rule.
Rudra Narayan Pany (BJP) charged the Orissa Chief
Minister with non-performance and said Patnaik could not speak
even the local language. His colleague Chandan Mitra said,
"Orissa regains its prestige and sense of history."
Mitra said while India's heritage was revered in many
parts of the world, "we have forgotten our own heritage."
There have been many cities and states that have been
renamed after independence. These include Thiruvananthapuram
(Trivandrum), Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Kolkata
(Calcutta), Pune (Poona), Kochi (Cochin) and Bangaluru
(Banglore).