Two more villages renamed in Rajasthan

After Miyan Ka Bara in Barmer, the names of two more villages in Rajasthan have reportedly been changed. Ismail Khurd in Jhunjhunu district and Narpada in Jalore have been rechristened as Pichanwa Khurd and Narpura, respectively.

JAIPUR/NEW DELHI: After Miyan Ka Bara in Barmer, the names of two more villages in Rajasthan have reportedly been changed. Ismail Khurd in Jhunjhunu district and Narpada in Jalore have been rechristened as Pichanwa Khurd and Narpura, respectively. 

On August 8, TOI had reported that the residents of Miyan Ka Bara, a village in Barmer, were overjoyed after their hamlet was renamed Mahesh Nagar on June 1. 

The names were changed after the home ministry received no objection from the ministry of railways, department of posts and the survey of India, news agency PTI reported on Thursday, referring to a source in the ministry of home affairs. 

Even though Hanwant Singh, former sarpanch of the Barmer village, had earlier told TOI that he undertook the task of changing the name in 2010, rechristening the ‘Islamic’ sounding names now into a ‘Hindu’ ones is likely to kick up a political storm as the state is heading for assembly elections. 

Most of the families in village are Hindus 

The renamed Barmer village has a population of approximately 2,000 people. 

“When I was a child, I had heard that the village was known as Mahesh Ro Bado. But over the course of decades, the name changed to Miyan Ka Bara. When I became the sarpanch in 2010, I decided change the name to the original one. I dug out old records and sent applications to district administration and the revenue department. The authentication documents were further sent to the state government and then to the home ministry. Finally, we got the order on June 1,” Singh said. 

As reported on Wednesday, most families in Miyan Ka Bara village are Hindus. The villagers said since the name of village sounded ‘Islamic’, they had a hard time arranging marriages for their children. 

Tahir Shama, SDM, Siwana, also said that for the last six decades, the villagers of Miyan Ka Bara had been trying to change the name as only a few Muslim families resided in the village.