President Murmu gives assent to Bill to rename Kerala as Keralam
The President gave assent to the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, which changes the official name of the State of Kerala to "Keralam"
The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on 11 August 2026, and the Rajya Sabha passed it the following day, 12 August 2026
The change follows a resolution passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly urging the Centre to bring in a law altering the state's name to align the English usage with its Malayalam form
With Presidential assent, the Act amends the First Schedule of the Constitution to substitute "Keralam" for "Kerala"
Article 3 — Parliament's Power to Alter State Names and Boundaries
Article 3 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to form new states, alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing states, and to change state names, by ordinary law. This provision reflects the framers' choice of a flexible, non-federal-rigid approach to internal territorial reorganisation, in contrast to federations like the United States where state boundaries cannot be altered without the state's consent.
Key Details
- A Bill under Article 3 can be introduced in either House of Parliament only on the recommendation of the President
- The proviso to Article 3 requires that where the proposal affects an existing state's area, boundaries or name, the President must refer the Bill to that state's Legislature for its views within a period specified by the President
- The views expressed by the state legislature are not binding on Parliament or the President — a point tested repeatedly in UPSC Prelims (contrasted with binding consent requirements in some other federations)
- Such a law is passed like any ordinary legislation — by a simple majority of members present and voting in each House — since Article 4 declares that laws made under Article 3 are not to be considered constitutional amendments under Article 368, even though they amend the First and Fourth Schedules
The Kerala Assembly's 2024 resolution, the Centre's reference of the Bill for the state's views, and the passage of the Bill by simple majority in both Houses followed the exact Article 3 sequence, ending in Presidential assent that operationalised the name change.
Article 4 — Consequential Amendments Without Invoking Article 368
Article 4 clarifies that any law made under Article 3 (or Article 2, on admission of new states) must contain provisions for amending the First Schedule (list of states and their territories) and the Second Schedule as necessary, and that such a law is not deemed an amendment of the Constitution for the purposes of Article 368. This is a key distinction UPSC tests: not every change to a Schedule requires the special/two-thirds majority procedure of Article 368.
Key Details
- The First Schedule lists the names of all States and Union Territories along with their territorial extent; the Kerala Bill substitutes the entry for "Kerala" with "Keralam"
- Because the change under Article 3/4 is treated as ordinary legislation, no special majority (as required for entrenched provisions under Article 368) was needed
- This differs from the case of Orissa's renaming to Odisha, which was carried out through the 96th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011 (using Article 368 procedure) because it simultaneously changed the name of the language "Oriya" to "Odia" in the Eighth Schedule — a change Article 3/4 alone cannot make
- Other precedents under the simple Article 3/4 route: Bombay State was reorganised into Maharashtra and Gujarat (1960); Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu (1969); Mysore was renamed Karnataka (1973); Union Territory of Pondicherry was renamed Puducherry via the Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006; Uttaranchal was renamed Uttarakhand via the Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006 (effective January 2007)
Since the Kerala name change affects only the First Schedule entry (not the Eighth Schedule list of languages), it could proceed as an ordinary Article 3/4 law — like Puducherry and Uttarakhand — without needing the higher constitutional-amendment threshold used for Odisha.
- Lok Sabha passage: 11 August 2026; Rajya Sabha passage: 12 August 2026
- Constitutional basis: Article 3 (power to alter name), read with Article 4 (consequential Schedule amendments, no Article 368 procedure needed)
- Schedule amended: First Schedule of the Constitution
- Comparable precedents: Madras → Tamil Nadu (1969); Mysore → Karnataka (1973); Pondicherry → Puducherry (2006); Uttaranchal → Uttarakhand (2006/2007); Orissa → Odisha (via 96th Amendment Act, 2011, using Article 368 since the Eighth Schedule language entry also changed)
- Type of majority required for an Article 3 Bill: simple majority (present and voting) in each House