Tamil Nadu wants to rename over 1,000 places amid a pandemic that’s snowballing to record highs

• Tamil Nadu government is exploring new names for at least 1,018 places — so that the places match their Tamil origins.
  
• The first time the Tamil Nadu government expressed its desire to change the name was back in 2018, according to The Hindu report.
  
• This comes at a time when the state saw an all-time single-day high of 1,927 new coronavirus cases being recorded.

Tamil Nadu government has proposed new names for at least 1,018 places — so that the places match their Tamil origins.

This comes at a time when the state saw an all-time single-day high of 1,927 new coronavirus cases. Tamil Nadu is the second most affected state with coronavirus, with a total of 36,841 active coronavirus cases.

The first time the Tamil Nadu government expressed its desire to change the name was back in 2018, according to The Hindu. “The idea was to match the spelling of a place’s name with what a common man pronounces,” said State Tamil Development director G Vijayaraghava.

So the industrial city of Coimbatore will be known as Koyampuththoor. Ambattur, a city famous for its industrial estate, will be called Ampaththoor. Whereas, Vellore will be called Veeloor.

Some of the other new names that been proposed are:

• Nagercoil - Nagerkovil
  
• Dindigul - Thindukkal
  
• Tuticorin - Thoothukkudi
  
• Karur - Karoor
  
• Vepery - Vepperi
  
• Saidapet - Saidapettai
  
• Alandur - Aalandhoor
  

Most of the name alternatives won’t change the way the place is pronounced. However, their spelling will be changed to account for the local dialect. For instance, Mylapore - will be written as Mayilappoor.

The committee that has proposed the changes comprises of revenue officials, local administration, highway officials and Tamil scholar, according to Vijayaraghavan. Even though a notification has been issued, it is yet to be officially sanctioned by the governor.

However, the notification says that state departments are to implement the new spellings in official documents hereafter even though the citations in existing documents won’t be disturbed.

This isn’t a unique decision in India. Previously, the Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh went on a spree to change the name of multiple cities. In 2014, the Karnataka government changed the name of 12 cities. Even now, multiple proposals are pending with the central government.

However, many people criticised the Tamil Nadu government for issuing such a notice in the middle of a pandemic — which has killed more than 8,000 people in the country and infected over 250,000 people in less than 6 months.


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