Jullender, Simla were never changed to Jalandhar, Shimla

NEW DELHI - Colonial era spellings of names of cities like “Jullender” and “Simla” were never changed to Jalandhar and Shimla, the union home ministry has revealed in reply to a query put under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The ministry made the revelation in reply to a query by RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, who asked if it is true that British-given spellings to names of cities like Jullender and Simla were rectified in tune with their actual pronunciation like Jalandhar and Shimla.

“As per records available with the ministry, no proposals were received from the state government nor approved by the central government giving to changing the name of Jullender and Simla to change as Jalandhar and Shimla,” the home ministry reply said.

According to the reply the cities whose names have been changed after consulting the ministry of science and technology and the Survey of India are - ‘Kaup’ hamlet to ‘Kapu’ in Karnataka, village ‘Kengnyu’ to ‘Kingnu’ and village ‘Chakhabama’ to ‘Sakhabama’ in Nagaland.

“The change in names of cities, villages (are) considered only on receipt of such requests. Therefore, there is no information available on these lines sought by you,” said the reply in query to whether spellings of cities like Bareilly and Delhi are to be changed ‘Bareli’ and ‘Dehli’.

The ministry said: “The changes of names of cities are effected by the concerned state governments after obtaining the approval the ministry of home affairs.”

“As regards spellings of state/city, the ministry of science and technology has issued instructions to the effect that the Survey of India will be the only authority for transliteration of name from one script to another according to the system approved by the central government.”

“In the event of disagreement between the Survey of India and the state government, the decision of the government of India in the ministry of science and technology will be final,” the reply said.