In the 14-month period between April 2018 and June 2019, the Government of Maharashtra received almost one lakh change-of-name applications. This massive number translates into a healthy financial windfall of nearly 5 crore rupees or about 500 rupees per application!
Reasons given for desiring a name change include:
- The ‘standard’: marriage, divorce, change of religion
- Spelling errors in documents
- The whimsical: ‘own wish’, ‘luck’ and ‘surname not like’ (sic)
In July 2014, the state government made the name-changing application process ‘online only’. As a result, what used to be a cumbersome procedure is now streamlined and very quick (though not necessarily affordable for all – see below). An applicant just needs to upload the required documents and pay the application fee. Approval is usually received within 10 business days. For all these reasons, over 6 lakh people in Maharashtra have changed their names and with it, a crucial part of their identities in the past 5 years. What this means is that the government has earned well over 20 crore rupees in this period.
The application fee has fluctuated quite a bit, jumping from Rs.120 to Rs.523 in March 2015 and then to Rs.613 (including 18% GST) in October 2017. In 2018, the fee fell back to Rs.523 for open category applicants. Interestingly, the fees for applicants belonging to SC/ST/OBC classes is about half this amount (Rs.270). Despite these apparent shortfalls, the government still continues to rake in the moolah from applicants desperate to change their names.
Most applicants in the 20-40 age range tend to belong to the poorer classes and many of them are illiterate. However, the post-digitisation era is now seeing applications from the upper socio-economic classes as well, particularly businessmen who add letters to their names or swap initials to ‘improve’ their financial luck (or so they’re told by astrologers). Women and 9th-standard students also comprise a large proportion of applicants. This year, the government has received an application to introduce a separate column for transgender applicants.
Errors are fairly common in the Excel sheet maintained by the Gazette (which processes name-change applications), some of which are hilariously funny like a Parmeet who becomes Prescott and an Ashok who becomes Ashoak.
The Gazette is very careful about reviewing requests for ‘change in father’s name’ following some cases where fraudsters have filed such applications to enable them to claim property. The Gazette firmly rejects such ‘applications from the beyond’.
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