The Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Central government to officially change the name of the State from Kerala to Keralam.
The Assembly sought an amendment to the Constitution, which too refers the State as Kerala, in this regard.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan presented the contents of resolution in the House under Rule 118 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
While Keralam is the accepted and common usage in Malayalam, the State is generally referred to as Kerala in official records, especially those in English. The First Schedule of the Constitution also specifies the name of the State as Kerala.
‘’The name of our State is Keralam in Malayalam language. States were formed based on language on November 1, 1956. Kerala Day is also on November 1. The need to unite Kerala for the Malayalam-speaking communities has been strongly evident since the time of the national freedom struggle. However, the name of our State is listed as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution. This Assembly unanimously requests the Union government to take immediate steps to amend it to Keralam under Article 3 of the Constitution,’‘ says the resolution.
Article 3 deals with the formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States.
The resolution also urges the Centre to change the usage as Keralam in all languages mentioned under the Eighth Schedule.
