Discover how the Odisha govt is preserving its rich linguistic and cultural heritage by officially changing the English spellings of 64 places, including Cuttack and Balasore, to align with authentic Odia phonetics.
IMAGE: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Akshaya Tritiya and Farmers’ Day at the campus of the Central Rice Research Institute at Vidyadharpur, in Cuttack, Odisha, April 20, 2026. Photograph: @MohanMOdisha X/ANI Photo
Key Points
- Major cities like Cuttack will now be spelt as Kataka, and Balasore as Baleshwar.
- The initiative aims to preserve Odisha’s linguistic and cultural identity by correcting colonial-era anglicised names.
- Changes apply only to English spellings, not the actual names of administrative units.
- This standardisation will bring uniformity across official records, maps, and government communications.
Odisha’s ‘Millennium City’ Cuttack will now be spelt as Kataka as the state government on Monday changed the English spelling of 64 places — districts, sub-divisions, tehsils, blocks and urban bodies.
In the same way, Balasore will now be written as ‘Baleshwar’ and Rourkela as “Raurkela”.
Officials clarified that the corrections apply only to English spellings and do not alter the actual names of administrative units.
A notification issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management department said that the modification of names is done with a view to preserving the linguistic and cultural identity of Odisha and restoring and standardising the English spellings of the names in the state in conformity with Odia phonetics.
“The corrections effected herein relate solely to the English spellings of the concerned administrative units and shall not be construed as effecting any change in their names,” it said.
The changes in the spelling are undertaken to correct the colonial-era “distorted” English spellings for 64 locations across 26 districts.
Earlier this month, the state cabinet approved these corrections as several places in the state continued to be officially recorded with “anglicised or misspelt” names that do not align with Odia pronunciation and etymology.
For instance, “Aali” is the correct phonetic of the place while it is now being written as “Aul”. Similarly, “Balasore” is replaced with “Baleshwar”.
Most notable changes after notification would be Kataka in place of Cuttack, Rourkela as “Raurkela”.
Several other district headquarters and major towns have also undergone spelling revisions based on Odia pronunciation.
This initiative is expected to bring uniformity across official records, maps, signage, and government communications, reducing confusion arising from anglicised or inconsistent spellings while maintaining the phonetic integrity of Odia names.
