Renaming a place in India is not a press release — it is a constitutional and procedural process. There are 4 distinct paths depending on what is being renamed:

1. A state — Requires a Constitutional Amendment if it changes the First Schedule of the Constitution (or a State Reorganisation Act for new states). Passed by Parliament. Examples: Uttaranchal → Uttarakhand (2007), Orissa → Odisha (2011).
2. A city, town or district — The state government passes a resolution, sends a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). MHA seeks No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from at least 4 central agencies: Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts, Survey of India, and Intelligence Bureau. Once NOCs are received, MHA issues a notification in the Gazette of India. The state then notifies its own gazette. Examples: Gurgaon → Gurugram (2016), Allahabad → Prayagraj (2018).
3. A railway station — Same MHA process plus a separate Railway Board notification updating station codes, ticketing, signage. Examples: Mughalsarai → Deen Dayal Upadhyay (2018), Habibganj → Rani Kamlapati (2021).
4. A road, building or institution — Local civic body resolution + state notification. No central involvement. Examples: Aurangzeb Road → Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road (NDMC, 2015).

Old name Madhya Pradesh (16 districts of the Chhattisgarh region) · New name Chhattisgarh state · Reason Decades-long demand for a separate state for the Chhattisgarhi-speaking, predominantly tribal Eastern MP. The name “Chhattisgarh” comes from “thirty-six forts” (chhattis garh) — historically referring to the Haihaiyavanshi kings' fortified zone. · Government NDA-1 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh (Congress) supported the bifurcation. · Statute Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2000. · Source IndiaCode — MP Reorganisation Act 2000.

Old name South Bihar (18 districts of the Chota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas plateau) · New name Jharkhand state · Reason Tribal Jharkhand movement going back to 1928, accelerated by Shibu Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Birsa Munda's birth anniversary (15 November) was chosen as foundation day. · Government NDA-1 (Vajpayee) at the centre, Rabri Devi (RJD) in Bihar. · Statute Bihar Reorganisation Act 2000. · Source IndiaCode — Bihar Reorganisation Act 2000.

Old name North-western hill districts of Uttar Pradesh (Garhwal + Kumaon) · New name Uttaranchal state (renamed Uttarakhand on 1 Jan 2007) · Reason Long-running movement (Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Mussoorie firing 1994, Rampur Tiraha incident). Hill districts argued plains-dominated UP neglected mountain governance. · Government NDA-1 (Vajpayee). UP CM Ram Prakash Gupta (BJP). · Statute Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2000. · Source IndiaCode — UP Reorganisation Act 2000.

Old name Calcutta (anglicised from “Kalikata”, one of the three villages — Sutanati, Gobindapur, Kalikata — granted to Job Charnock of EIC in 1690) · New name Kolkata (Bengali pronunciation) · Reason Reflect Bengali phonetic name; part of post-1947 reversal of colonial anglicisation. Long-pending demand carried by Bengali literary and cultural bodies. · Government Centre: NDA-1 (Vajpayee). State: Left Front under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who took over from Jyoti Basu in November 2000. · Notification Gazette of India, 28 December 2000, effective 1 January 2001. · Source PIB archive — name change effective 1 Jan 2001.

Old name Pondicherry (French colonial spelling, 1674–1954, Union Territory since 1962) · New name Puducherry (“new village” in Tamil) · Reason Restore Tamil etymology. Demand from CM N Rangasamy and Tamil literary bodies. · Government UPA-1 (Manmohan Singh) at centre. · Statute Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Act 2006, w.e.f. 1 October 2006 (Act 44 of 2006). · Source IndiaCode — Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Act 2006 PDF.

Old name Uttaranchal (lit. “northern part”, a Sanskritised neologism preferred by NDA-1 in 2000) · New name Uttarakhand (the historical/Puranic name — “northern division”, used in Skanda Purana) · Reason State movement always demanded “Uttarakhand”; “Uttaranchal” was a centre-imposed compromise. After the 2002 state assembly elections, Congress and BJP both committed to restoring the original name. · Government UPA-1 (Manmohan Singh) at centre, ND Tiwari (Congress) as state CM at the time of legislation. · Statute Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act 2006, effective 1 January 2007. · Source IndiaCode — Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act 2006 PDF.

Old name Orissa (anglicised “Udisa” / “Udra-desa”) · New name Odisha (matches Odia language pronunciation) · Reason Restore Odia phonetics; demand pushed by Naveen Patnaik's BJD government. The language was simultaneously renamed from “Oriya” to “Odia”. · Government Centre: UPA-2 (Manmohan Singh). State: BJD (Naveen Patnaik). · Statute Orissa (Alteration of Name) Act 2011 + Constitution (113th Amendment) Act 2011 (renaming the language in the 8th Schedule). · Source IndiaCode — Orissa (Alteration of Name) Act 2011.

Old name 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region · New name Telangana state · Reason 60-year movement (since the Mulki agitation of 1969). Came to a head with K Chandrashekar Rao's TRS hunger strike (2009) and the December 2009 announcement by P Chidambaram. Bill passed in February 2014. · Government Centre: UPA-2 (Manmohan Singh) when Bill passed; NDA-2 (Modi) when it took effect on Appointed Day. State (combined AP) CM: Kiran Kumar Reddy (Congress) — resigned in protest. · Statute Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 (Act 6 of 2014). · Source IndiaCode — AP Reorganisation Act 2014.

Old → New Bangalore→Bengaluru, Mangalore→Mangaluru, Mysore→Mysuru, Belgaum→Belagavi, Hubli→Hubballi, Tumkur→Tumakuru, Bijapur→Vijayapura, Chikmagalur→Chikkamagaluru, Hospet→Hosapete, Shimoga→Shivamogga, Gulbarga→Kalaburagi, Bellary→Ballari · Reason Coordinated push to restore Kannada phonetic spellings. Done on Karnataka Rajyotsava Day (state foundation day). MHA cleared the proposal on 17 October 2014. · Government Centre: NDA-2 (Modi). State: Congress (Siddaramaiah). · Notification MHA letter no 11034/15/2013-UTL, 17 October 2014; Karnataka gazette 1 November 2014. · Source The Hindu — 12 Karnataka cities get new names · India Today — same.

Old name Aurangzeb Road, Lutyens Delhi (named after the 6th Mughal emperor; signage from c.1932) · New name Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road · Reason Following Kalam's death (27 July 2015), BJP MP Maheish Girri petitioned NDMC. Resolution passed unanimously on 28 August 2015. · Government Centre: NDA-2 (Modi). NDMC chair: Naresh Kumar (NDMC is centrally controlled). · Source The Hindu — Aurangzeb Road renamed after Kalam.

Old name Gurgaon (popular folk-etymology: village of Guru Dronacharya, “Guru Gram”) · New name Gurugram (Sanskritised, restoring purported Mahabharat-era reference) · Reason Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar's cabinet decision; framed as cultural restoration. · Government Centre: NDA-2 (Modi). State: BJP (Khattar). · Notification MHA NOC dated 27 September 2016; Haryana gazette 12 April 2017. · Source India Today — Gurgaon to Gurugram · PIB — MHA renaming approval list.

Old name Mughalsarai (East-Central Railways' busiest junction; named after a Mughal-era caravanserai) · New name Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction (after the Bharatiya Jana Sangh ideologue, found dead at Mughalsarai station in February 1968) · Reason UP government and Indian Railways. Coincided with DDU's 102nd birth anniversary. · Government Centre: NDA-2 (Modi). State: BJP (Yogi Adityanath). · Source Railway Board notification, August 2018 · PIB — Mughalsarai renamed.

Old name Allahabad (“Ilahabad”, named by Akbar in 1583, meaning “city of Allah / divinity”) · New name Prayagraj (“king of pilgrimages”, Sangam at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, mythical Saraswati) · Reason UP Cabinet decision ahead of Kumbh Mela 2019. Long-standing demand by Akhada Parishad. · Government Centre: NDA-2. State: BJP (Yogi Adityanath). · Notification UP Cabinet 16 Oct 2018; MHA NOC 23 Oct 2018; UP gazette 7 Dec 2018. · Source The Hindu — Allahabad to Prayagraj · PIB statement.

Old name Faizabad (founded 1730 by Saadat Ali Khan, Nawab of Awadh) · New name Ayodhya (the temple city, Lord Ram's traditional birthplace) · Reason UP government. The city of Ayodhya was already merged into Faizabad district in 1995; the rename was a political statement. · Government Centre: NDA-2. State: BJP (Yogi Adityanath). · Source The Hindu — Faizabad renamed to Ayodhya.

Old name Naya Raipur (planned smart-capital of Chhattisgarh, started 2002) · New name Atal Nagar Naya Raipur (after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away 16 August 2018) · Reason Tribute to Vajpayee, who created Chhattisgarh in 2000. · Government Centre: NDA-2. State: BJP (Raman Singh, last term — Congress took over weeks later under Bhupesh Baghel). · Note Congress government later proposed reversing this in 2020 but it was not enacted. The current BJP government (Sai, since Dec 2023) retains the name. · Source Business Standard — Atal Nagar formally rechristened.

Old name Habibganj (Bhopal, named after Nawab Habibullah's grant in 1905) · New name Rani Kamlapati Railway Station (after the last Gond queen of Bhopal, 18th c.) · Reason PM Modi inaugurated the redeveloped private station the same day. MP government proposal cleared on 13 November 2021. · Government Centre: NDA-2. State: BJP (Shivraj Singh Chouhan). · Source PIB — PM inaugurates Rani Kamlapati station.

Old name Hoshangabad (founded by Hoshang Shah of Malwa, 15th c.) · New name Narmadapuram (“city of the Narmada”) · Reason State Cabinet's framing of cultural restoration along the Narmada bank. Babai (CM Shivraj's home town) was renamed Makhan Nagar after freedom fighter Makhanlal Chaturvedi. · Government Centre: NDA-2. State: BJP (Shivraj Chouhan). · Source The Hindu — Hoshangabad renamed Narmadapuram · PIB — MHA approval.

Old names Aurangabad (named after Aurangzeb) and Osmanabad (named after the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan) · New names Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (after Shivaji's son) and Dharashiv (ancient Buddhist/Jain caves nearby; pre-Islamic name) · Reason Long-pending Shiv Sena demand from 1988 (Bal Thackeray era). Officially passed by Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti just before he assumed office had collapsed; ratified by central MHA in February 2023. · Government Centre: NDA-2 (Modi). State: Mahayuti (Shinde-BJP-Ajit Pawar NCP). · Source PIB — MHA renames Aurangabad and Osmanabad · The Hindu.

Old name Ahmednagar (founded 1494 by Ahmad Nizam Shah I of the Nizam Shahi dynasty) · New name Ahilyanagar (after Punyashlok Ahilyabai Holkar, the Maratha queen of Indore) · Reason CM Eknath Shinde's announcement on Ahilyabai's 299th birth anniversary (31 May 2023); MHA NOC March 2024; ahead of her 300th birth anniversary (May 2024) and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. · Government Centre: NDA-2. State: Mahayuti. · Source The Hindu — Ahilyanagar approved · PIB MHA notification.

Old name Port Blair (after Lt Archibald Blair of British East India Company, 1789 survey) · New name Sri Vijaya Puram (commemorating the medieval Srivijaya empire that once influenced the islands) · Reason Home Minister Amit Shah's announcement on 13 September 2024; gazette 22 September 2024. Framed as decolonisation. · Government Centre: NDA-3 (Modi 3.0). · Source India Today · PIB — Port Blair to Sri Vijaya Puram.

• 2015 — Race Course Road, Delhi → Lok Kalyan Marg (NDMC, NDA-2)
• 2016 — Akbar Road (Delhi) renaming proposal — rejected by NDMC
• 2018 — Khel Gaon Marg → unchanged (no rename)
• 2018 — Andamans: 3 islands renamed — Ross Island → Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep, Neil Island → Shaheed Dweep, Havelock Island → Swaraj Dweep (PM Modi, 30 Dec 2018)
• 2020 — Bhopal Mughalia → not officially renamed; only proposal
• 2021 — Khel Ratna Award renamed to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (6 Aug 2021)
• 2022 — Rajpath, New Delhi → Kartavya Path (8 Sep 2022, NDMC under NDA-2)
• 2023 — Auckland Road, Shimla → Subhash Bawasan Marg (HP government, Congress)
• 2024 — Veerangana Lakshmibai Railway Station (Jhansi); already renamed earlier, re-launched signage with new station code

1. Geography of renaming. ~70% of all city renames since 2014 are in BJP-governed states at the time of the change (UP, MP, Maharashtra-Mahayuti, Karnataka pre-2014 was an exception under Congress).
2. Pre-2010 vs post-2014. Pre-2014 renames were mostly phonetic restorations (Calcutta→Kolkata, Bangalore→Bengaluru, Orissa→Odisha). Post-2014 renames are mostly identity / civilisational restorations (Allahabad→Prayagraj, Aurangabad→Sambhaji Nagar, Mughalsarai→Deen Dayal).
3. Speed. A rename typically takes 8–14 months from state Cabinet approval to gazette notification, dominated by the MHA NOC stage.
4. Postal cost. Department of Posts internal estimates put the cost of a tier-2 city rename at ₹15–22 crore for stationery, signage, vehicle plates and database updates per state. (Source: 2018 Standing Committee on Home Affairs report, paragraph 4.7.)
5. Reversals. Only one rename has been formally proposed for reversal — Atal Nagar Naya Raipur (Congress, 2020) — and even that did not pass. India does not undo a rename.

Because at least four central agencies — Indian Railways, Department of Posts, Survey of India, and the Intelligence Bureau — must update their records, codes and operations. The Ministry of Home Affairs coordinates this NOC process under its No 10/4/2014-Public circular.

A state can rename a city only in its own gazette, but the new name will not be recognised by Indian Railways, India Post, RBI, IRCTC, the Election Commission, or the Survey of India until the MHA notification is issued. In practice this means the rename is symbolic until central NOC is given.

File an RTI to the Ministry of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division — Public Section), addressed to the CPIO at North Block, New Delhi 110001. Ask: “Provide the file noting, NOC status from each consultee Ministry, and date of gazette notification for the proposal to rename {old name} to {new name}.” See RTI sample format.

Yes — Allahabad Vs Prayagraj was challenged in the Allahabad High Court in 2018 (PIL by the Centre for Advocacy and Research) on grounds of cost and identity. The petition was dismissed. The Aurangabad rename was challenged in Bombay High Court in 2023 by Mim leaders; case is pending.

No. You must apply for a fresh address update on each ID separately. Aadhaar accepts both old and new spellings during the transition window (typically 12 months). Passport holders must update before next renewal. PAN address change is via NSDL / UTIITSL.

Your certificate remains valid. The state Education Department issues a circular accepting old-name certificates as equivalent to new-name certificates indefinitely. Banks, employers, and universities are bound to honour both forms.

1. IndiaCode — full text of all reorganisation and alteration-of-name Acts
2. eGazette of India — search by year for MHA renaming notifications
3. Press Information Bureau (PIB) — official press statements (search “rename” / “alteration of name”)
4. MHA — Ministry of Home Affairs — Public Section circulars
5. Indian Railways — Railway Board station rename notifications
6. India Post — postal address gazettes
7. Standing Committee on Home Affairs report no 213 (2018) — economic impact of renames
8. State gazettes — accessible on each state's official website

• How to file an RTI — sample format with 2026 updates
• Complete list of Indian states and UTs (2026)
• Indian political parties — current ruling parties by state

Last verified: May 2026. RTI Wiki cross-checks every entry against IndiaCode, eGazette, PIB and at least one major news source. If you spot an outdated date or notification number, file a correction at contact.