Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced new names for three islands of Andaman and Nicobar to honour Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

About

• Ross Island has been renamed as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep, Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep and Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep.
• PM hoisted a 150-metre-high national flag at Netaji Stadium, Port Blair to mark the 75th anniversary of freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose's declaration of the formation of the Azad Hind government in 1943.
• The three islands are part of the Andamans and all three islands are popular with tourists.
• Havelock Island was named after British general, Sir Henry Havelock, who served in India during the British administration. It is the largest island in the union territory.

Andaman and Nicobar islands:

• There are 572 islands in the territory having an area of 8,249 km 
• The islands extend from 6° to 14° North latitudes and from 92° to 94° East longitudes.
• The Andaman is separated from the Nicobar group by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel).
• The highest point is located in North Andaman Island (Saddle Peak at 732 m (2,402 ft)).
• The Andaman group has 325 islands which cover an area of 6,170 km2 while the Nicobar group has only 247 islands with an area of 1,765 km2.
• The capital of the union territory is Port Blair.

History:

• The new names are a tribute to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bos. His Indian National Army, in alliance with the Japanese, had briefly captured the Andaman Islands from the British Raj during World War II.
• Bose visited Port Blair to raise the tricolour and technically take charge of the islands in December 1943; Bose had suggested that Andaman and Nicobar Islands be renamed “Shahid Dweep” (Martyr Island) and “Swaraj Dweep” (Self-Rule Island).
• The islands got freedom from Japanese occupation on October 7, 1945 and from British colonial rule on August 15, 1947.

Constitutional provision:

• The First schedule of the constitution has the list of all the states and union territories.  A new state in India can be created by three different means as follows:
• Breaking / reorganizing an existing state(s)
• Giving status of full-fledged state to a union territory.
• Acquiring a new territory Breaking / reorganizing an existing state(s)
• Article 3 (Schedule I) empowers the parliament to create new states and alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing States by making suitable law.
• Process for changing the name of a state can be initiated by state itself. However, by virtue of article 3, the parliament has power to change the name of a state even if such proposal does not come from the concerned state.