It's Official: From today, Bangalore becomes Bengaluru

, Nov 1: The Silicon City has a new name now. From Nov 1 onwards, Bangalore and other 11 cities in

will be called by their old Kannada names. So Bangalore becomes Bengaluru, Mysore becomes Mysuru and more.

This change comes on Kannada Rajyotsava, a day when Karnataka turns 68.

The Union Home Ministry on Oct 17 gave the nod for a change in the names of 12 cities in Karnataka. Keeping in mind the pronunciation in Kannada language, cities like Mangalore will be known as Mangaluru and Mysore as Mysuru.

The list further states that Bellary will now be called Ballari, while Belgaum will be renamed as Belagavi, Hubli as Hubballi, Tumkur as Tumakuru, Bijapur as Vijapura, Chikmalgalur as Chikkalmagaluru, Gulbarga as Kalaburagi, Hospet as Hosapete and Shimoga as Shivamogga.

PM Narendra Modi too extended his greetings to the state and tweeted:

Greetings to people of Karnataka on Kannada Rajyotsava. May Karnataka scale new heights of progress in the years to come.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 1, 2014

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