Economic Impact of

"RENAMING" of
Cities
Title Page Proprietors

Team Members

Group Members

Aashutosh Japjee Akanksha Shreyoshee

TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Objectives

• Introduction

• Reasons

• Process

• Impact

• Issues

• Conclusion
 OBJECTIVE

To know what are the socio-economic impact when

any cities name is changed
Title Page Proprietors Introduction

Insert your topic here

Introduction
Banglore was changed to Bengaluru.Gurgaon was changed
to Gurugram. Bombay to Mumbai. Allahabad to Prayagraj

100+ CITIES

More than a 100 cities and towns have been renamed in

INDIA.
While it's a powerful move against the colonist names the
British empire left behind and a step towards reclaiming
our culture -
ever wonder what's the economic impact of renaming a
city?
 What’s in a name? Shakespeare had once said. But as
Indian psyche goes by, a lot.
The Central government has approved renaming of 25
places in last one year -- Allahabad has become Prayagraj
and Mughal Sarai has become Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
Junction, among others -- and all due to various reasons.
 The reason for renaming places

• In order to free itself from the daunting memories of the colonial rule
and to cherish a new identity created by the sacrifice of the millions of
people which got the people their independence, names of the states
or the cities were realigned to alternative local names.
• But in contrary, the current renaming of historical cities named after
Muslim personalities or of Urdu dialect is mostly based on the cultural
and ethnoreligious grounds rather than linguistic one - even though
the Urdu language is one of the official languages.
• Therefore, this campaign to rename historical places and roads is being seen by
many as an attempt to rewrite history and undermine the historical personalities
of a particular community. For example - renaming historical Mughal Sarai
Railway Station after Deen Dayal Upadhyaya or renaming Lucknow's famous and
historic 'Hazratganj Chauraha' after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as
'Atal Chowk.
• Sometimes renaming is not only about religion, but this comes as an outcome of
unspoken custom and culture of the particular place. The demand for changing
of the name also comes from people themselves - through violent protests or
through a mass campaign.
• Political parties also use the name-game for creating vote banks. Across India,
many governments have done so - from Chennai and Gurugram to the scuttled
attempt to conjure a Paschim Banga (in place of West Bengal).
 Examples
• For instance, the names of landmark roads such as Queensway and Kingsway
were changed to Janpath and Rajpath respectively.
• Similarly, in Kolkata, Dalhousie Square named after Governor-General Lord
Dalhousie was renamed Binoy Badal Dinesh (or BBD) Bagh and Minto Park,
named after a former viceroy, was changed to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Udyan.
• The cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Bangalore were renamed
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru for the same reasons.
• After 2014, the renaming of became a significant practice as the central
government approved the renaming of over 25 towns and cities across India.
• For example, Allahabad was renamed Prayagraj, the iconic Mughalsarai
railway station in Uttar Pradesh renamed Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) and
the world’s largest cricket stadium Motera Stadium was renamed as Narendra
Modi Stadium after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad.
Process of renaming Places
• The state legislature sends a proposal in the form of a resolution to the Central
government -- proposing the renaming of any particular city or street. It is compulsory to
get the honorable President's approval on this proposal.
• After the approval, the Central government sends the bill to the respective state
assembly for expressing their views within a stipulated time.
• On the expiry of the period, the bill is sent back to the Parliament by the legislature for
deliberation. The honorable President can extend this time frame if he wishes.
• Parliament is not bound to accept the bill passed by the legislature. If Parliament wants, it
can dismiss the opinion of the state legislature. So, the bill, in order to take the force of
law, must be passed by a simple majority.
• The bill is sent to the honorable President for approval. After the said bill gets approved,
it becomes a law and the name of the city or state stands modified.
• The provision to send a bill to the state legislature was not in the original Constitution.
This process was added in the 5th Amendment Act, 1955.
Renaming a city or state costs an enormous amount of money. The total cost can go from an
estimated sum of Rs 200 to Rs. 500 crores or even more, depending on the size and global
recognition of the city or state.
The money is spent on updating the road signage system, highway marks, maps, official
stationery of the state and civic authorities to conform to a new name.
The shops, businesses and corporate houses of the city or state also undertake a similar
exercise to adhere to the change in name.

Thus, all these factors contribute to incurring the massive expenditure of renaming a place.
 We aren't alone

Name changes are not a peculiarly Indian phenomenon. Several

international cities have also been renamed. For instance what used to
be Canton is Guangzhou, Saigon is Ho Chi Minh City, Leningrad was
and is back to being St Petersburg, Constantinople is Istanbul and
Stalingrad, where one of the most famous battles of Second World
War was fought and is now Volgograd. Even countries can get
renamed. For instance, before 1935, Iran was Persia. Similarly,
Myanmar was Burma and Sri Lanka was Ceylon.
Although renaming states and cities is not a
new development, there has been a significant
increase in the process over the past five years.
More often than not, the process of renaming is
used as a tool by the government to further the
‘Hindutva’ agenda in the guise of reclaiming
self-worth through historic names. This
practice, however, has proven to be rather
harmful in an economic sense.
In the current scenario, however, the changes being
made and suggested make no sense whatsoever.
There is nothing but a political agenda attached to
the suggested changes, which aim to fetch the
government a larger vote bank by appeasing a
large section of the society.
Names are central to branding, that is to say, that like a company or a product, cities and
states must also be easily identifiable by their names. This mark of distinct identification can
only be achieved over a period of time and hence, changing names of places after they have
gained universal recognition spawns confusion and chaos. At the same time, the locals have
the name imprinted on their minds and therefore, have a hard time letting go of it, which
more often than not leads to them never stopping using the original name.
Moreover, when cities are rebranded, paperwork across the country has to be updated.
Significant expenditure goes into changing signs on freeways and other roads in the
neighbouring states, while businesses and enterprises also have to make certain changes when it
comes to advertising and promotion. This causes a lot of inconvenience to the government as
well as private firms. It is even more difficult for outsiders to familiarize themselves with the
change; which often leads to the city being forgotten in popular culture and media. Most of the
effects listed here may be intangible, which implies that at present, it’s not possible to
accurately measure the true cost of renaming a city or a state; however, it cannot be denied that
there are several implicit as well as explicit costs involved in the process.
 The elements that contribute to cost
• Changing names of cities require extensive expenditure on changing road signage,
maps, official stationery of state and civic agencies to conform to the new name.
• Shops, businesses, corporate offices in the city would be required to undertake a
similar exercise to adhere to a name change notification.
• As per estimates, Orissa's recent name change to Odisha cost the public exchequer a
whooping 300 crores.
• Impact on dwellers: The ultimate sufferer of any policy change is the general public.
The name change might hinder their day-to-day civic dealings. Home buyers, for
example, will have to get their registry done with the new name. Also, they will have to
get accustomed to pronouncing the new name.
• Above mentioned points only considers the cost incurred after changing the name but if
we take into account the cost during the name changing process the overall cost will go
above or close to Rs 500cr.
Cost incurred during the name changing process includes.
￭ time spend in the vidhan sabha(lower house of the state) on the discussions
regarding the name change
￭ executive working time spent in preparing the proposals and documents
￭ cost of special session that will happen in lower house for the name change
￭ according to some estimates the cost per day of Parliament is around Rs 6 crores..
going by this figures the cost per day of lower and upper house of the state will be
around Rs 3 to 4 crores
 Issues
• This move creates dissatisfaction particularly among the minority population in question
who are against the decisions. This may further lead to mob violence, communal violences
etc.
• Changing names after they have gained universal recognition sows the confusion in
people's mind.
• Enormous resources and paperwork is required to establish the new political/official
identity of not only the city but of the entire district. Government and business stationery
have to be discarded and remade at a cost to the environment.
• The biggest cost may be in re-educating outsiders about the name change, an intangible
line item whose true costs are difficult to calculate.
• It leads to politicization of community memories. But not only do such endeavors not
acknowledge the ruptures they create, they also overlook the history of cultural
consciousness.
• Renaming cities result in economic and logistical upheaval. A large amount of the
taxpayers' money is spent on changing signboards on public properties such as
railways, metros, buses, and street signs, not to mention the time and energy
invested in bureaucratic, administrative and legal procedures. Maps have to keep
pace with the frequent renaming.
• Satellite cartographic networks often fail to keep up with the frequency of changed
ground realities and people and transporters waste time to reach their destinations.
Conclusion
The renaming of places has been a perpetual practice in India. It is
believed that changing names is a step towards preserving cultural
heritage and national integrity. While many also feel that it is a waste of
resources and corresponds to eroding Indian historical culture.
Ultimately, it results in the dilution of public memory associated with
these places. Old places and names should be left alone to reflect the
authentic intangible heritage associated with them. If an existing name
proves to be offensive to some, then a case should be filed for changing it
and thereafter, it should take place through proper procedures and
channels. Names cannot simply be changed according to the whims and
fancies of some politicians.
 REFERENCE
S
From Gurgaon to Gurugram: Here's why corporate citizens are resisting the name change - The Economic
Times
From Gurgaon to Gurugram: 20 cities that changed their names
Gurgaon renamed as ‘Gurugram’
Proposal to change West Bengal to Bengal
Civic Agencies Will Have to Meet Name Change Expenses
Footnotes
[1] West Bengal no more?
[2] From Gurgaon to Gurugram: Facts of Name Game Debate
[3] How much does one day of a Parliament session cost