Centre renames three islands in Andaman & Nicobar

NEW DELHI: The Modi government has decided to rename three islands in Andaman & Nicobar - Ross Island as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Neil Island as Shahid Dweep and Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep - coinciding with the 75th anniversary of Bose having hoisted the national flag in Port Blair.
Sources said the home ministry has almost completed the formalities for the change in nomenclature and that the new names will be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Port Blair on December 30.
Modi, who will be accompanied by home minister Rajnath Singh, will also hoist a 150 metre-high flag at Port Blair, apart from releasing a commemorative stamp and coin on the occasion.
After the Japanese captured the Andaman & Nicobar islands during World War II, Bose, who led the Indian National Army that had allied with Japan, hoisted the national flag at Port Blair on December 30, 1943. He announced that the islands were the first Indian territory to be freed from British rule. He then suggested that Andaman & Nicobar Islands be renamed as Shahid and Swaraj dweep, something that the Modi government is now taking forward by giving these very names to Neil Island and Havelock Island respectively.