Port Blair News Today: on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that they are changing the name of Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar as “Sri Vijaya Puram.”
On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the central government renamed Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as “Sri Vijaya Puram.”
Who is The Blair of Port Blair?
Lieutenant Archibald Blair, a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy in the early 18th century, named the city, which was previously a fishing hamlet. Several contributions to British colonial activities highlighted the career of Blair. His presence in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was part of a larger campaign to establish British dominance over this distant but strategically crucial territory.
In 1789, the Government of Bengal established a penal colony on Chatham Island in the southeast harbor of Great Andaman, which was named after Archibald Blair.
The name of Port Blair in his honour demonstrated his significance in the British colonial development in the eastern Bay of Bengal. Later, the port became a major hub for military, administrative, and commercial activity in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It served as the British operating center, allowing them to better govern and manage the surrounding islands.
Blair oversaw the port’s expansion, which helped transform the area into a crucial node in the British maritime network.
While detailed personal records about Blair’s life are sparse, his professional achievements in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands left a lasting impact, resulting in the naming of the town after him.
This is the history of Port Blair and its name. The new name of Port Blair ‘Sri Vijaya Puram’ is a fitting tribute to the city’s contribution to the making of the new Independent India.
Sri Vijaya Puram Meaning
“Inspired by the vision of PM @narendramodi Ji, to free the nation from the colonial imprints, today we have decided to rename Port Blair as “Sri Vijaya Puram. While the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in our freedom struggle and the A&N Islands’ unique role in the same,” the minister posted on X.
“Andaman & Nicobar Islands have an unparalleled place in our freedom struggle and history. The island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is today poised to be the critical base for our strategic and development aspirations,” he added.
“It is also the place that hosted the first unfurling of our Tiranga by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Ji and also the cellular jail in which Veer Savarkar Ji and other freedom fighters struggled for an independent nation,” Shah added.
Sri Vijaya Puram is the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory.
Great Nicobar Project
The Centre’s ₹72,000 crore project on Nicobar Island has raised concerns over the potential displacement of the indigenous Shompen people.
Shompens are uncontacted nomadic hunters that are part of a total population of 244 on Nicobar Island. “The initiative is for locations where the Shompens don’t live. Shompens had already moved to the jungles following the 2004 tsunami.” According to local government officials.
How many Andaman and Nicobar Island names have been changed?
On Parakram Diwas in January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi named 21 unidentified islands in Uttar Pradesh after Param Vir Chakra recipients.
The prime minister also announced the design for Netaji’s National Memorial, which will be located on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, formerly known as the Ross Islands.
Read more: Waqf Amendment Bill will be discussed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee on September 18–20