New Delhi, Feb 24: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, approved the proposal for alteration of name of 'Kerala' as 'Keralam', government officials said.

After approval of the Union Cabinet, President Droupadi Murmu will refer a Bill, namely the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, to the Kerala Assembly for expressing its views under the provision to Article 3 of the Constitution of India.

After receipt of the views of the Kerala Assembly, the Union government will take further action and the recommendation of President Murmu will be obtained for introduction of the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, for alteration of name of 'Kerala' as 'Keralam' in the Parliament.

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Incidentally, the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution on June 24, 2024, to alter the name of "Kerala" to "Keralam", which is as under: "The name of our State is 'Keralam' in Malayalam Language."

"States were formed on the basis of language on the first day of November 1956. The Kerala Piravi Day is also observed on the first day of November. Since the time of the country's independence struggle, there has been a strong demand for the formation of United Kerala for the people speaking Malayalam language. However, in the First Schedule to the Constitution the name of our state is recorded as 'Kerala'. The Kerala Assembly unanimously appeals to the Central government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name as 'Keralam'."

Thereafter, the Kerala government requested the Union government to take necessary steps to amend the First Schedule to the Constitution by altering the name of 'Kerala' as 'Keralam' as per Article 3 of the Constitution.

Article 3 of the Constitution provides for alteration of names of existing states.

According to Article 3, Parliament may by law alter the name of any state in the country.

Further provision to Article 3 states that no Bill for the purpose would be introduced in either Houses of the 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 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.

The matter regarding alteration of name of 'Kerala' as 'Keralam' was considered in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and with the approval of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the draft note for the Union Cabinet for the alteration of name of 'Kerala' as 'Keralam' was circulated to the Ministry of Law and Justice's Department of Legal Affairs and Legislative Department for their comments.

The Ministry of Law and Justice's Department of Legal Affairs and Legislative Department have concurred with the proposal for the alteration of name of 'Kerala' as 'Keralam'.

(IANS)