How have Karnataka districts changed since Independence?
(by Shivakumar Jolad and Mehr Kalra)
Last week, the Karnataka state government approved Deputy CM of Karnataka, D K Shivakumar’s proposal to re-name the district of Ramanagara to Bengaluru South. The move was supposedly intended for Ramanagara residents to reap the benefits associated with the prestige of Bengaluru. When the proposal was first discussed in 2023, it had received mixed reactions. While some were hopeful that Ramanagara would now become the center of new infrastructure and opportunities, others were concerned of the loss of Ramanagara’s distinct identity as a consequence of its renaming. Yet the government proceeded with the decision to rename the district, without much discussion of the impact on the district’s identity.
Ramanagara district was created only in 2007 after being split from the Bangalore Rural district. Changing the name of districts and creating new districts is not new in Karnataka, or for that matter any state in India. District creation and renaming is done frequently across the country. It is often a political move, rather than a sound administrative decision and is not always a reflection of people’s preference and aspirations. In 2014 alone, the names of 11 districts in Karnataka were nativized (like Bangalore to Bengaluru, Belgaum to Belagavi, Mysore to Mysuru). Last such renaming exercise was carried out in 1973, a year after the Mysore state was renamed to Karnataka in 1972.
Figure 1: Renaming of Districts in Karnataka.
The story of Karnataka districts and its evolution draws significantly from the history of its state formation. In 1956, the erstwhile state of Mysore was linguistically reorganized to create the state of Karnataka that we recognise today. The Karnataka jigsaw puzzle came about through the amalgamation of majority kannada speaking districts from 5 states and provinces under colonial India. Nine districts from erstwhile Mysore state, four districts from erstwhile Bombay state (namely Bijapur, Belgaum, Dharwar and Kanara), three districts from Hyderabad state (namely Bidar, Gulbarga and Raichur), and two districts of Bellary and South Kanara (now Dakshina Kannada and Udupi) and Kollegal taluk from Madras state came together to create the present-day state of Karnataka. Coorg was initially retained as a special centrally-administered Part C state but was later integrated into the state of Karnataka as Coorg district, on the recommendations of the States Reorganization Commission in 1955.
While many are familiar with the major districts that were transferred to the state of Karnataka. Lesser known fact is that in certain cases, on the basis of State Reorganization Act-1956, only some talukas of a district were transferred from one state to another, a decision taken largely on linguistic grounds. Chandgad taluka of Belgaum was moved to the Sawantwadi district of Bombay state. Kodangal and Tandur taluks of Gulbarga district, Alampur and Gadwal taluks of Raichur district were retained in Hyderabad state (reorganized to Andhra Pradesh), Ahmadpur, Nilanga and Udgir taluks of Bidar district went into Bilingual Bombay state. Similarly, While, the South Canara district’s transfer from Madras to Mysore state, Kasaragod taluk was transferred from Karnataka to Kerala on account of its Malayalam majority population. On the other hand, Soliga tribe dominated Kollegal taluk was transferred from Coimbatore district of Madras to Mysore state.
Language was not the sole basis of transfer. Kolar district had a majority (SRC-1955) of Telugu speakers (54%), but was included as it had historical ties with Mysore state centuries. Belgaum district had majority Kannada speakers (64.3%), while Chandgad taluka and Belgaum had majority Marathi speakers, at 92% and 49.8% respectively, according to 1951 Census. While Chandgad was transferred to Bombay, Belgaum taluka was retained for geographical continuity and administrative convenience. Some of these issues dominate the interstate disputes even to this day. Multilinguality of border districts and taluks create friction between the states and impact the rights of the linguistic minorities. The 2008 movie, Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shaale, Kasaragodu highlighted the issue of step motherly treatment to Kannada medium schools in Kasaragod taluk.
Post state formation, Karnataka witnessed name changes of quite a few of its districts. Kanara was renamed North Kanara, Chitraldurg to Chitradurga (1956). In 1973, South Kanara, North Kanara and Dharwar were nativised to Dakshin Kannad (Dakshina Kannada), Uttar Kannad (Uttar Kannada), and Dharwad respectively. The fixation with name changes was put to a rest thereafter. It was only in 2014, that the names of districts in the state were again put to discussion and 11 of them were nativised in order to align the spelling with the Kannada name and pronunciation.
District creation on the other hand, continued throughout. In 1986, Bangalore was split into Bangalore and Bangalore Rural (under Ramakrishna Hegde as CM). In 1997 Bagalkot, Davangere, and Koppal were created from Bijapur, Chitradurga, and Raichur districts respectively (under J H Patel). At the same time, Dharwad was trifurcated into Dharwad , Gadag, and Haveri districts. Next year, in 1998, Chamarajanagar was created from Mysore district. In 2007, Chikkaballapur district was carved out of Kolar districts. Bangalore Rural was further split into Bangalore rural and Ramanagara (then CM HD Kumaraswamy was elected Ramanagara constituency) . In 2009, Yadgir was carved out of Gulbarga (under Yediyurappa). More recently, in 2021 Vijayanagara district was carved out of Ballari districts paying homage to the glorious Vijayanagara empire. The Karnataka government also plans to honor Sri Basaveshwara, the 12th century reformer saint poet, by coining his name on the Vijayapura district. Basava Nadu or Basaveshwara district, are the names that have been proposed for the district, as per the recent government order in October 2023.
Figure 3: Mysore in 1961 vs Karnataka in 2021
This pegs the question of why districts are split and renamed so frequently. Typically, the stated reason for splitting of districts as per news clippings and government orders is administrative convenience. Many of the Ex-bureaucrats we spoke to highlighted that the splitting and renaming of districts has a clear political motive. They further discussed that often there is a demand by an MLA to create districts from his/her constituency to please voters. What gets missed out in this attempt to keep the voter base intact, is the enormous costs incurred while splitting or renaming districts. Every time a new district is formed, it requires creation of several new offices and departments including the DC office, district courts, administrative centers, and new district level departments. Moreover, new records have to be created, new officials have to be hired or transferred. Administrative records have to be updated everywhere. Since this is impossible to do in a short period of time, more often than not the same district is spelled differently across different documents.
Ramanagara ,the silk city of Karnataka, produces 40,000 to 50,000 kg of cocoons everyday and forms the thread of Mysore silk sarees. It is also known for its magnificent rocks, where the iconic movies like ‘Sholay’ and ‘A Passage through India’ (on Ramadevarabetta betta) were shot. With the renaming of the district, it will be seen as an urban extension of Bangalore, and not as a state cultural icon.
( Dr. Shivakumar Jolad, is an associate professor at FLAME University, Pune; Mehr Kalra is a graduate of Azim Premji University and FLAME University, and works as freelance research assistant)
