Amid speculations claiming that the Union Government is considering the removal of “India” from the Constitution, people have started wondering about the cost that the country will incur to become “Bharat.”
After the country becomes “Bharat,” it needs to update its maps, road navigation systems, landmarks, and more. In addition to it, private organisations will also need to bear the costs.
Cost for India to become ‘Bharat’
In 2018, when the monarch of Swaziland renamed the country to Eswatini, intellectual property lawyer Darren Olivier devised a method to calculate the cost associated with renaming a country.
According to him, the average marketing cost of a large enterprise is approximately 6 percent of its total revenue, and the rebranding exercise costs nearly 10 percent of the average marketing cost. Using this method, he calculated the cost of renaming Swaziland to Eswatini as USD 60 million.
If the same method is applied to calculate the cost that India will incur to become “Bharat,” it amounts to Rs 14,304 crore, considering the country’s revenue receipts in FY23, which include tax and non-tax revenue, totaling Rs 23.84 lakh crore.
Opposition criticizes Union Government
Shortly after Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President’s House) sent out invites for a G20 dinner on September 9 in the name of the President of Bharat instead of the usual President of India, the opposition began criticising the BJP.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed it a blatant attempt to distort the country’s history and launched a scathing attack against the BJP and the government.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut stated on Wednesday that changing the name of India to Bharat amounts to ‘an insult’ to the Constitution framed by Dr BR Ambedkar.
Is Union Government going to remove “India” from Constitution?
According to media reports, the Union government may consider removing the word “India” from the constitution during the upcoming Special Session of Parliament scheduled to be held from September 18 to 22.
To remove “India” from the constitution, the government needs to amend Article 1(1) of the Constitution, which states, “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.”
Given the substantial costs associated with this change, it remains to be seen whether the government will actually amend Article 1.
