The Kerala legislative assembly has unanimously passed a resolution on 24 June 2024 to rename the state to Keralam. The resolution, moved by Kerala’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, requested the government of India change the state's name in the constitution.
A similar resolution was passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly in August 2023.
While moving the resolution, the Chief Minister said, “The name of Kerala in the Malayalam language is Keralam. He said that during the freedom struggle, the Malyali-speaking people demanded a united Kerala state for all Malyali-speaking people of the region. After independence, states in India were reorganised based on language, and the new states came into existence on 1 November 1956. Kerala was also formed on 1 November 1956. However, the state was named Kerala instead of Keralam in the first schedule of the constitution.
The resolution requested the central government to change the state's name to Keralam in the first and fourth schedules.
The first schedule of the constitution mentions the name of the state and the Union Territories.
The fourth schedule of the constitution mentions the seats allocated to the states and the Union Territory, which have a legislative assembly in the Rajya Sabha or the Council of States of the Parliament.
The modern state of Kerala came into existence on 1 November 1956, when the State Reorganisation Act 1956 was enacted, and 14 new States and 6 Union Territories were created in the country.
The Malayalam-speaking area of Malabar district of Madras State and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara district was merged with the Travancore-Cochin State.
Similarly, the Tamil-speaking areas of Southern Travancore-Cochin were merged with Madras State.
Under the Indian constitution, the name of the state can be changed by the parliament through an ordinary law-making process, and there is no need to amend the constitution.
Madhya Bharat to Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 1956.
Madhya Bharat was created by merging 25 princely states on May 28, 1948. It was renamed Madhya Pradesh on November 1, 1956.
Madras State to Tamil Nadu in 1969
On 26 January 1950, the Madras Province was named as Madras State. On 14 January 1969, Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu.
Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand
The state of Uttaranchal was created on 9 December 2000 and changed its name to Uttarakhand on 1 January 2007.
Orissa to Odisha
On 1 November 2011, the name of Orissa was changed to Odisha. The 96th Constitutional Amendment Act 2011 amended the eighth schedule of the constitution and changed the name of the Oriya language to Odia.