Assam to be named 'Asom'

Guwahati: The Assam government has decided to change the name of the state to 'Asom', Minister of Planning and Development Himanta Biswa Sarmah said on Monday.

The decision to change the name was taken at a cabinet meeting and would be effected "as early as possible" and the process to change the name of the state had already been initiated, Sarmah said.

The move was taken after former Assam Sahitya Sabha president and noted literatteur Chandra Prasad Saikia wrote to the government urging that the name of the state be changed to its original form.

"The original name of Assam was 'Asom' and it was only the British who changed it as they could not pronounce it correctly," Sarmah said.