The Government of India Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Kerala government’s proposal to rename the State from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’, the name used in Malayalam.
A government statement said that the President will now refer the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, to the Kerala Legislative Assembly to express its views, under the proviso to Article 3 of the Constitution of India. Once these views are received, the government of India will take further action to obtain the President’s recommendation to introduce the name change legislation in Parliament.
The decision to rename the state was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at its first meeting held at Seva Teerth, the new complex housing the Prime Minister’s Office.
The move comes almost two years after the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution seeking the name change.
The resolution, dated June 24, 2024, said: “The name of our State is ‘Keralam’ in the Malayalam Language. States were formed based on language on the 1st day of November, 1956. The Kerala Piravi Day is also on the 1st day of November. Since the time of the National Independence Struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking the Malayalam language. But in the First Schedule to the Constitution, the name of our State is recorded as ‘Kerala’. This Assembly unanimously appealed to the Central Government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name to ‘Keralam’.”
The state government had then requested the GoI to take the necessary steps to revise the First Schedule to the Constitution, which defines the names and territories of the States. According to Article 3 of the Constitution, Parliament may by law alter the name of any existing state.
The proviso to Article 3 states that “no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States, the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired.”
