Bhubaneswar: In a significant move to preserve Odia linguistic heritage and cultural identity, the Odisha government on Monday officially modified the English spellings of several districts, sub-divisions, tehsils, blocks and urban local bodies across the State.
A notification issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department released the changes to the colonial-era distorted English spellings for 64 locations across 26 districts.
Notably, the State Cabinet had earlier this month approved these corrections as several places in the state continued to be officially recorded with anglicised or misspelt names that do not align with Odia pronunciation and etymology. Examples include “Aul” instead of the original “Aali” and “Balasore” for “Baleshwar”.
As per the official notification, the most notable changes include Cuttack being officially spelt as “Kataka” and Rourkela as “Raurkela”. Other district headquarters and major towns have also undergone spelling revisions based on Odia pronunciation.
The Government stated that the decision seeks to preserve Odisha’s linguistic and cultural identity by aligning English spellings with Odia phonetics. The notification directs that existing English spellings listed in the official schedule will be corrected and substituted with new standardised versions, effective from the date of publication in the Odisha Gazette.
Officials clarified that the corrections apply only to English spellings and do not alter the actual names of administrative units. The move aims to ensure uniformity across official documents, maps, and communication channels while maintaining the phonetic integrity of Odia names.
Comments are closed.