Sindhudurg Launches Bold Anti-Caste Crusade, Renaming Caste-Based Settlements, Roads
As many as 25 Roads and 192 settlements bearing caste-based names have been renamed after great personalities.
Published : October 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM IST
Sindhudurg: Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra has made a new beginning against caste glorification. A total of 192 caste-based settlements and 25 caste-based roads in rural areas have been renamed after great personalities. It is the first district in the state to undertake this progressive initiative.
Sources say that this has been an exercise that was initiated at the government level and its implementation began from the Gram Sabhas that passed resolutions to change the names.
A proposal in this regard was received from the Group Development Officer addressed to the Chief Executive Officer. The District Collector has been given the authority to change the caste-based names with new ones.
It is learnt that roads and settlements will no longer bear names like Harijanwadi, Jadhavwadi, Charmkarwadi and Bauddhawadi in both the urban and rural areas.
The state government had mandated a few days ago that all the villages, localities, roads and housing colonies that bear any reference to castes or specific communities must be renamed after personalities connected with democratic values. The Rural Development Department in the state had issued government resolution (GR) in this regard last Thursday.
The issue had been coming up for discussion at various forums including the state legislature on various occasions.
The new proposed names have been approved by the Sindhudurg District Collector. This move by the authorities in Sindhudurg district has been appreciated by the state minister Narayan Rane who is also the Guardian Minister of the district.
It is being pointed out that Rane has fulfilled the promise given to the delegation of Scheduled Castes in a recent public meeting. It is being said that the decision is expected to strengthen the social unity of the district.
Sources said that the caste-based names of other settlements and villages, if any, will also be changed in the near future.
Last week, even the government in the southern state of Tamil Nadu issued detailed guidelines for identifying and renaming roads, streets, residential areas, bus stands, markets, waterbodies and village panchayats that carry caste-based or discriminatory names.
Even the Allahabad High Court in a significant judgment last month called for an immediate end to the practice of mentioning the caste in FIRs, seizure memos, other police documents, public records and signboards.
The Court had strongly objected to caste glorification, even terming it ‘anti-national' while issuing a slew of directions to the Uttar Pradesh Government to remove caste references from documents and public places.
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