By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : The state assembly here Thursday resolved to change the name of Orissa to Odisha and its official language from Oriya to Odia, saying that the name of the state had been used wrongly, an assembly official said.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik moved the resolution in the house which was approved by a voice vote.
The state government will now approach the central government to make an amendment in the constitution to change the names, the official said.
The state cabinet last June had passed the proposal to introduce a bill and it was unanimously resolved, he said.
There were disparities due to ‘wrong spelling of state’s name’. Though it was being written as Udisa in Hindi and Orissa in English, the real name was Odisha, a senior leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal said.
The assembly resolved that the word ‘Orissa’ appearing in the first schedule and the word ‘Oriya’ as its language appearing in eighth schedule should be changed to that of Odisha and Odia, respectively.