{"id":81584,"date":"2026-08-13T18:13:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=81584"},"modified":"2026-08-13T18:13:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:43:58","slug":"kerala-name-change-to-keralam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-08-2026\/kerala-name-change-to-keralam","title":{"rendered":"Rajya Sabha Passes Bill To Change Kerala\u2019s Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Indian Polity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Rajya Sabha has passed a Bill to change the<strong> name of Kerala to Keralam.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026<\/strong> changes the name of the state to Keralam and makes the <strong>necessary amendments to the Constitution, including in the First Schedule.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Kerala Assembly passed a resolution in <strong>2024<\/strong>, urging the Centre to bring a law to change the name of the state to Keralam.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Origin of the name: <\/strong>The earliest epigraphic record that mentions Kerala is emperor <strong>Asoka\u2019s Rock Edict II of 257 BC<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The inscription refers to the local ruler as <strong>Keralaputra <\/strong>( \u201cson of Kerala\u201d), and also \u201c<strong>son of Chera\u201d<\/strong> referring to the Chera dynasty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At present the <strong>First Schedule<\/strong> of the Constitution also specifies the name of the State as \u2018Kerala.\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Formation of the Modern State<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The people speaking Malayalam had been ruled by various kings and princely states in the region.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the<strong> 1920s<\/strong>, <strong>the Aikya (unified) Kerala movement <\/strong>gathered momentum and a demand for a separate state for Malayalam-speaking people came up.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It aimed at the integration of Malabar, Kochi and Travancore into one territory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>After independence, <\/strong>merger and integration of princely states was a major step towards the formation of the state of Kerala.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On 1 July 1949, the two states of Travancore and Kochi were integrated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When it was decided to reorganize states on a linguistic basis<strong>, <\/strong>the<strong> State Reorganisation Commission<\/strong> of the Union Government recommended creation of the state of Kerala.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The state of Kerala came into being on<strong> November 1, 1956. <\/strong>In Malayalam, the state was referred to as Keralam, while in English it was Kerala.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Process to Rename a State in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 3 <\/strong>authorizes the Parliament to:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>form a new state by separation of territory from any state or by uniting two or more states or parts of states or by uniting any territory to a part of any state;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>increase the area of any state;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>diminish the area of any state;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>alter the boundaries of any state; and\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>alter the name of any state.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, <strong>Article 3<\/strong> lays down two conditions in this regard:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a bill contemplating the above changes can be introduced in the Parliament only with the prior recommendation of the President;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>and before recommending the bill, the President has to refer the same to the state legislature concerned for expressing its views within a specified period.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>President (or Parliament) is not bound<\/strong> by the views of the state legislature and may either accept or reject them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Indian<\/strong><strong>Constitution (Article 4) <\/strong>itself declares that laws made for alteration of names of existing states (under Articles 3) are not to be considered as amendments of the Constitution under<strong> Article 368<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Such laws can be passed by a simple majority and by the ordinary legislative process.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/parliament-passes-bill-to-rename-kerala-as-keralam\/article71337234.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Rajya Sabha has passed a Bill to change the name of Kerala to Keralam. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 changes the name of the state to Keralam and makes the necessary amendments to the Constitution, including in the First Schedule. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Kerala Assembly passed a resolution in 2024, urging the Centre to bring a law to change the name of the state to Keralam. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-08-2026\/kerala-name-change-to-keralam \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81586,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81584\/revisions\/81586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}