The Union Cabinet of India approved renaming Kerala as “Keralam” and initiated the constitutional amendment process. Following the decision chaired by Narendra Modi, the President will seek the State Assembly’s views under Article 3.
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet approved a plan to rename the State of Kerala as “Keralam” and began the constitutional process needed to amend the First Schedule of the Constitution for the renaming.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) announced that the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After this approval, the President of India will refer the proposed Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 to the Kerala Legislative Assembly to obtain its views under Article 3 of the Constitution.
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The move traces back to a unanimously adopted resolution by the Kerala Legislative Assembly on June 24, 2024, urging the central government to change the state’s name from “Kerala” to “Keralam” to reflect the name used in the state’s native language, Malayalam.
Constitutional Provisions:
Article 3 : Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States
Parliament may by law (e)alter the name of any State;
Provided 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 B ill 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 thereon 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.
Under Article 3, Parliament has the authority to alter the name of an existing state by law. However, a Bill can be introduced in Parliament only after the President refers the matter to the relevant state legislature for its views.
Once the Assembly’s views are received, the Union government may proceed to secure the President’s recommendation and introduce the Bill in Parliament. The cabinet’s approval represents the initial formal step toward the proposed constitutional amendment.
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During 2023 and 2024, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved a resolution seeking to rename the state from “Kerala” to “Keralam” in all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The resolution was passed twice by the legislative assembly.
The Assembly unanimously urged the Central government to take steps to amend the Constitution’s First Schedule to reflect the name “Keralam.”
Following the resolution, the Kerala government officially requested the Union government to start the constitutional process. The Ministry of Home Affairs reviewed the proposal, after which the draft cabinet note was circulated to the Department of Legal Affairs and the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice. Both departments agreed with the proposal.
If Parliament ultimately passes the legislation, the name ‘Kerala’ will be changed to ‘Keralam’ in the First Schedule to the Constitution.
The name alteration is slated to precede the state’s upcoming assembly elections, the dates for which have not yet been announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The resolutions read,
“The name of our State is ‘Keralam’ in Malayalam Language. States were formed on the basis of language on the 1st day of November, 1956. The Kerala Piravi Day is also on the 1st day of November. Since the time of National Independence Struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking Malayalam language. But in the First Schedule to the Constitution the name of our State is recorded as “Kerala’. This Assembly unanimously appeals to the Central Government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name as ‘Keralam’,”
In 2016, when Gurgaon was renamed Gurugram, the RSS proposed a broader renaming agenda for several places, including urging the Union government to rename Kerala as ‘Keralam’, Ahmedabad as ‘Amaravati’, Hyderabad as ‘Bhagyanagar’, and Aurangabad as ‘Sambhajinagar’.
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