Indian State Orissa Becomes Odisha

Orissa will hereafter be called 'Odisha' and the Oriya language will be known as 'Odia' with Parliament giving approval to amendment of the Constitution and also passing the related bill. The new name will come into force from the date notified by the Central Gazette.

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed a bill to change the name of Orissa to 'Odisha' and an amendment in the constitution to rename Oriya language as 'Odiya'. "The name of the state specified as Orissa in the First Schedule of the Constitution be changed as Odisha," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said w hile introducing the bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Ceylon had become Sri Lanka and Burma changed to Myanmar.

This was true of Mumbai, Chennai and Pune which had reverted from their colonial names of Bombay, Madras and Poona. Odisha has a glorious history..