Kerala Assembly passes resolution to rename State as ‘Keralam’

Sub: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context:

The Kerala Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on June 24 to amend the Constitution and change the state’s name from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’.

Details:

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved the resolution, invoking Article 3 of the Indian Constitution to update the First Schedule.
This effort follows a previous attempt from last year, which was returned by the Central government due to procedural issues.
Initially, the state aimed to amend the names in all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution to ‘Keralam’.
However, upon advice from the Union Home Ministry, the focus shifted to only amending the First Schedule, leading to a revised resolution passed on August 9, 2023. The change is intended to align the official name with the Malayalam pronunciation.

The procedure of renaming the state can be initiated by either the Parliament or the State Legislator and the procedure is as follows:

The renaming of a state requires Parliamentary approval under Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution.
A bill for renaming a state may be introduced in the Parliament on the recommendation of the President.
Before the introduction of the bill, the President shall send the bill to the respective state assembly for expressing their views within a stipulated time. The views of the state assembly are not binding, neither on the President nor on the Parliament.
On the expiry of the period, the bill will be sent to the Parliament for deliberation. The bill in order to take the force of a law must be passed by a simple majority.
The bill is sent for approval to the President. After the approval of the said bill, the bill becomes a law and the name of the state stands modified.

Article 3 of the constitution:

Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States:
Parliament may by law:
- 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
- Increase the area of any State
- Diminish the area of any State
- Alter the boundaries of any State
- Alter the name of any State
According to Article 4 which deals with Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and supplemental, incidental and consequential matters provides that law made under Article 2 and 3 shall not be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.

Why Keralam

Kerala is the English word for the Malyali Keralam. There are several theories regarding its etymological roots. The earliest mention of the word can be found in Emperor Ashoka’s Rock Edict II, dated to 257 BCE. The edict reads: “Everywhere in the dominions of King Priyadarsin, Beloved of the gods, as well as those of his frontier sovereigns, such as the Chodas, Pandyas, Satiyaputra, Ketalaputra [Keralaputra]…” (translated by epigraphist D R Bhandarkar).
Keralaputra, literally “son of Kerala” in Sanskrit, refers to the dynasty of the Cheras, one of the three main kingdoms of southern India. German linguist Dr Herman Gundert noted that the word ‘keram’ is Canarese (or Kannada) for ‘cheram’, which is used to refer to the coastal land between Gokarna (in Karnataka) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu, India’s southern tip). The origin of the term could possibly be from ‘cher’, which means to join in Old Tamil.

Story of statehood

The demand for a united Malayalam-speaking state first gathered momentum in the 1920s, and aimed to integrate the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, and the Malabar district of the Madras Presidency.
After independence, on July 1, 1949 the two Malayalam-speaking princely states were integrated to form the state of Travancore-Cochin. The state of Kerala was finally created after the State Reorganisation Commission’s recommendation creating states on linguistic-bases. The Commission under Syed Fazl Ali recommended the inclusion of the district of Malabar and the taluk of Kasargod to the Malayalam-speaking people’s state.
It also recommended the exclusion of the four Southern taluks of Travancore viz Tovala, Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam and Vilayankode together with some parts of Shenkottai (all these taluks now part of Tamil Nadu).
The state of Kerala came into being on November 1, 1956.

Source: TH