MHA’s nod to change names of two places in Uttar Pradesh –

The Uttar Pradesh government has received consent from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to alter the name of Gorakhpur district’s ‘Mundera Baazar’ municipal council to ‘Chauri Chaura’ and Deoria district’s ‘Telia Afghan’ village to ‘Telia Shukla’.

According to reports, the Ministry approved the recommendations of the Uttar Pradesh government on October 6, following proper procedure. The Uttar Pradesh government has also received a ‘no-objection’ certificate, allowing it to alter the name of the municipal council ‘Mundera Baazar’ in Gorakhpur district to ‘Chauri-Chaura’ and that of ‘Telia Afghan’ village in Deoria district to ‘Telia Shukla,’ according to the source.

MHA analyses state requests for renaming specific locations in accordance with established criteria and in conjunction with the authorities involved. The Ministry also issues a ‘no-objection’ certificate to modify the name of a specific location.

It approves the renaming of any location after receiving no objections from the Ministry of Railways, the Department of Posts, or the Survey of India. These organisations must affirm that no city, town, or hamlet with a name comparable to the proposed one exists in their records.

An executive order is required to change the name of a village, municipality, or city. The renaming of a state necessitates a constitutional modification with a simple majority in Parliament.

Following a plea from the state government, the MHA authorised the renaming of the Manduadih railway station in Uttar Pradesh to ‘Banaras’ in 2020. Similarly, in 2019, the MHA granted the Uttar Pradesh government’s request to rename Allahabad Prayagraj.