It’s Official: From Today, It’s Mangaluru, Not Mangalore

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Nov 01, 2014: Mangalore is now officially Mangaluru. 12 of Karnataka’s major towns and cities reverted to their old Kannada names today after the Union Home Ministry this month cleared a proposal made by the state nine years ago.

The Union Home Ministry on Oct 17 gave the nod for a change in the names of 12 cities in Karnataka. Keeping in mind the pronunciation in Kannada language, cities like Bangalore will be known as Bangaluru and Mysore as Mysuru.

Apart from Mangalore, the other cities that formally get new old names today are: Bangalore - Bengaluru,  Mysore - Mysuru, Belgaum - Belagavi, Gulbarga - Kalaburagi, Hubli - Hubballi, Shimoga - Shivamogga, Chikmagalur - Chikkamagaluru, Bellary - Ballari, Bijapur - Vijapura or Vijayapura, Hospet - Hosapete, Tumkur - Tumakuru.

Political considerations are said to be the main reason for the delay in the Centre’s OK for the state’s proposal, made when the Congress’ Dharam Singh was chief minister. For one, neighbouring Maharashtra had appealed against Belgaum, on the border of the two states, being renamed. It argued that many Marathi people who have lived in the area for years would feel alienated.

PM Narendra Modi too extended his greetings to the state and tweeted "Greetings to people of Karnataka on Kannada Rajyotsava. May Karnataka scale new heights of progress in the years to come."