Odisha officially renamed dozens of locations Friday, replacing colonial-era spellings with Odia-language forms in a statewide gazette notification.
The port city known historically as Cuttack will be recognized as Kataka, among 64 place-name changes reflecting cultural reclamation policies promoted by the state government.
Signage on highways, government letterheads and educational certificates will be updated on phased schedules to limit disruption.
Historians debated whether tourism branding should retain bilingual markers for international visitors accustomed to older names.
Implementation teams will coordinate with postal and mapping services to synchronize digital databases used by navigation apps and emergency responders.
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Sources:
https://indianexpress.com/archive/2026/06/13/