Maha to change caste-based names of areas

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal to rename colonies and areas that have caste-based names.

Instead, it will be named after social workers and leaders or other related articles, social justice minister Dhananjay Munde said.

Across the state, several rural as well as urban areas are named after castes such as Maharwada, Mangwada,

Bhrahmanwada, Mali Galli, Dhorvasti, among others. According to Munde, such names do not suit a “progressive” state like Maharashtra.

“To maintain social harmony and goodwill in the state and to increase national unity, all caste-based names of areas and localities in rural and urban parts of the state will be changed. They will be named after social workers or something corresponding to their work, for example, Samata Nagar, Bhim Nagar, Jyoti Nagar, Kranti Nagar,” a statement from Munde’s office said.

The urban development department will decide on the process in urban areas, while the rural development department will do the same for their areas, the statement added.

In 2012, the government changed the name of an award by dropping the word Dalit from it and renamed it Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Samaj Bhushan Award.

The state government had already issued a government resolution in September 2019 to drop the use of the word Dalit from all government correspondences and schemes. All correspondences now use scheduled caste and Nav Bouddha instead.

The state cabinet also gave its nod to the proposal of withdrawal of social and political cases registered between November 1, 2014 and December 31, 2019.

Most of the cases likely to be withdrawn are those registered against political workers and leaders for their agitations over various issues.