There’s still time for Gurgaon to become Gurugram

Till centre makes the final call, Gurgaon will have to wait for a new name

GN Bureau | April 13, 2016


#manohar lal khattar   #gurugram   #gurgaon  


Gurgaon, known as the corporate and entertainment hub of NCR, may soon be called as Gurugram. Though the Haryana government approved the long pending demand of the municipal corporation on April 12, an approval from the centre is awaited. Till then, its name will remain the same. 

 
Gurgaon is not the only city whose name has been in question in the past. Many cities such as Bangalore (which is now Bengaluru), Bombay (now Mumbai), Pondicherry (Puducherry) among others, have undergone name change due to various reasons. But there are some who have been escaping this trend all the while. 
 
In 2006, the Assam government had decided to change the state’s name to Asom, after noted writer and former president of Assam Sahitya Sabha, Chandra Prasad Saikia, urged the government to change Assam’s name to its original form – Asom, which was changed to Assam by the British during their rule in India, as they apparently could not pronounce it correctly. The change, however, never saw the light of the day. 
 
Similarly, in 2011, the West Bengal government decided to change the state’s name to PaschimBanga. Wanting to forget Bengal’s tragic history of partition which led to the name of West Bengal, opposing the use of English language and the use of West Bengal as a name only for administrative purposes were some of the reasons the state gave for proposing the name change. But this, too, hung fire. 
 
Meanwhile, the reason for Gurgaon’s name change is this: Apparently, Guru Dronacharya, who was mentioned in the Mahabharata, was given the village as guru dakshina by his students – the Pandavas, and hence it came to be known as Gurugram, but eventually got distorted to Gurgaon in the course of time. The district administration feels that such a move would bring people closer to the place’s rich heritage.
 
 

Comments

 

Other News

Central Bank Digital Currency has game-changing potential

When discussing digital currency, you might think of one or two well-known varieties. There is the digital representation of currency that you access with mobile and online banking services. This currency is the liability of a commercial bank. There is also cryptocurrency, a digital medium of exchange issu

An Insider’s Account of the Zail Singh Years: The Endgame

The Indian President: An Insider’s Account of the Zail Singh Years By K.C. Singh HarperCollins, 312 pages, Rs.699  

‘My Father Was a Simple Man’: Remembering Gen. Rawat

Bipin: The Man Behind the Uniform By Rachna Bisht Rawat Penguin, 207 pages, Rs 599 On the morning of 8 December 202

A Mind and Heart without Corners

In Love, At Ease: Everyday Spirituality with Pramukh Swami By Yogi Trivedi Penguin Random House, 360 pages, Rs 499 Spirituali

Mumbai air quality dips, BMC swings into action

Taking note of Mumbai’s rising air pollution and deteriorating air quality in the recent months, the BMC has attributed rising dust levels to different large-scale development and construction works combined with changes in the wind speed conditions. It has constituted a seven-member committee, which

‘Seasonal Influenza’: health ministry keeps watch on situation

Given an unusual uptick in the cases of “seasonal influenza” in the recent days, the health ministry Friday said that it was keeping a close watch on the situation in various states/UTs through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on real-time basis. The

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook    Twitter    Google Plus    Linkedin    Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter