Etymology
Belgaum is anglicized name of Belgaon. The names are from the Sanskrit Velugrama, Kannada for Venugrama i.e. "Bamboo village" and the same, Belagavi in Kannada, Belgaon in Marathi. The Official Language is Kannada.
Of late, the city has carved itself a new name as Kunda nagari because of its famous sweet dish Kunda . The city is also known as Sugar City", and the district as Sakkare Jille" (Sugar District) because of its enormous sugarcane cultivation and sugar production.
The name Belgaum had been proposed to be changed to Belagaavi by the Karnataka government. However Central government has not agreed to rename the city, as Belgaum is caught between Karnataka and Maharashtra in the border dispute. One of the Centre's guidelines for renaming places is that the names should not hurt people's sentiments, not have political overtones and not already be in use in any other state.
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