Working upon the direction of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the district collector of Anantapur, Gandham Chandrudu, started an initiative to change the names of localities that are inspired on the basis of a caste.
Colonies with names like Dalit Wada, Harijana Wada, Girijana Wada were identified in large numbers in the district. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment also issued guidelines to change the locality names which were using Harijana and Girijana in it.
As per the District Collector, 480 names of such colonies were changed and were renamed accordingly. Such as a locality named Dalit Wada in RDT area of the district was renamed as the RDT colony after an NGO who works for the people of the district.
On 2 December, Maharashtra government also decided to drop the names of residential areas, colonies, and villages which are inspired by a particular caste and renamed it with more “equitable names”.
