E-Paper
‘Ganda’ no more: 30 villages across India apply to change their names
CHANDIGARH: “I am from Ganda.” Twelve-year-old Harpreet Kaur is overtaken by shame every time she has to mention the name of her village, located in Haryana’s Fatehabad
CHANDIGARH: “I am from Ganda.” Twelve-year-old Harpreet Kaur is overtaken by shame every time she has to mention the name of her village, located in Haryana’s Fatehabad district.
Ganda in Hindi means dirty and Harpreet’s embarrassment is shared by many others in the village, prompting them to collectively petition the government with a request to change the village name.
Ganda is not the only village seeking a new identity. Some 30-odd villages in states such as Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Kerala applied for a change of name in the past three years. The Centre has approved 20 and applications of the remaining 10 are pending.
If Ganda wishes to shrug off the “filth” associated with it, constant aspersions to their character forced villagers of Chorachi-Wadi in Satara district of Maharashtra to push for and secure a name-change. Chorachi in Marathi means a place of thieves and the home ministry in 2014 allowed the village to rename itself as Anandpur.
Ditto with a village named Beef in Uttarkashi of Uttarakhand. Mostly devout Hindus living in the vicinity of the Yamunotri shrine, the residents resented the name that they felt was not in accordance with their religious beliefs. They applied for a name-change and the home ministry allowed it to be rechristened as Narayanpuri in 2014.
But such processes aren’t easy. There are elaborate rules in place for a name-change. The union home ministry does not normally allow a village to get a new identity unless there is a pressing reason and discourages changing names which people have got used to.
Respective state governments must also back the proposal to change the village name, listing out compelling reasons. The ministry then seeks views of the Survey of India, postal and railway departments before approving or rejecting the application, explained a home ministry official. The process involved is time-consuming and cumbersome, but affected villagers say it is a pain worth taking.
Residents of Kotli Khurd in Bathinda, the home district of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, want the village renamed as Prem Kotli. “One saint held a satsang (discourse) in the village and advised people to live with love. Due to this, the panchayat decided to change the name of the village to Prem Kotli,” states the letter sent by the state revenue department to the Union home ministry in January 2016. The Rajasthan government has also similarly put its weight behind the move by villagers of Dhanpura of Bundi district to be renamed as Baba ki Mandi after a hermit who lived in a nearby hillock a century ago.
