Petition to Change India’s Name to Bharat

The Supreme Court recently heard a PIL that asked for the renaming of India to Bharat. Watch our video for all the details.

Currently, the Supreme Court of India is only hearing urgent matters during India's COVID-19 lockdown. A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court by a person from Delhi named Namah to officially rename “India” to “Bharat”. As per a notice uploaded on the SC website, this matter would be heard on 2nd June before CJI S A Bobde and other judges. As per reports, in his plea, Namah, has said that Article 21 of the Constitution says that every citizen has the fundamental right to call their own country as 'Bharat’. Namah has said that the name India was not derived from within the country. It is derived from the Greek word ‘Indica’. Changing the name to Bharat will help India forget the past where we were made slaves by the British. 

He has also shown that many such pleas were filed about the same topic. But the government has not done anything about it so he is right to apply to the Supreme Court. As per reports, it is stated that ‘India’ is not a literal translation of the word ‘Bharat’.  Also in history and in the Scriptures, the country is known as ‘Bharat’. 

“The removal of the English name will encourage a sense of pride in our own nationality for future generations. As per reports, earlier on 12th March 2016, a social activist from Maharashtra had also filed a petition in the SC wanting to rename Indian, Bharat. The Judges TS Thakur and UU Lalit at that time had asked, "Do you think we have no other work except dealing with emotional issues? Help the poor through the PIL. If you want to call it Bharat, do so. Nobody is stopping you.” On 2nd June when the SC heard the petition, the CJI said that India is already called Bharat in the Constitution. We can’t change the name. The Supreme Court would not interfere and the government would have to decide. 

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