New Delhi: Google Maps, the popular online mapping service, has updated its search feature to recognize both “India” and “Bharat” as the same country in South Asia. Users can now type either of these names in the search box of Google Maps and see the official map of India along with its flag and digital code.
This change is consistent across different languages, such as Hindi and English, that Google Maps supports. In the Hindi version of Google Maps, the name of the country is shown as “भारत”, while in the English version, it is shown as “India”. The text description of the country is also similar in both languages.
This update comes at a time when the Indian government is increasingly using “Bharat” instead of “India” in its official communications. For example, a recent railway ministry proposal to the Union Cabinet reportedly dropped “India” and replaced it with “Bharat” in its entire content.
Google Maps is not the only Google product that has made this change. Other products like Search, Translator, News, and others also offer users the option to use both “Bharat” and “India” to get similar results. For instance, in Google Translate, the English word “India” is translated as “भारत” in Hindi, and also has other synonyms like “हिंदुस्तान” and “भारतवर्ष”.
Google has not officially announced this change yet, but it seems to be rolling out gradually to users. It may take some time for all users to see it.
