🗞️ Why in News Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha on August 10, 2026, seeking to officially rename the state of Kerala as “Keralam” by amending its entries in the Constitution’s First and Fourth Schedules.
Article 3: How Parliament Actually Renames a State
Renaming a state is not a constitutional amendment in the Article 368 sense. It is an ordinary law made by Parliament under Article 3 of the Constitution, which gives Parliament the power to form new states, alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing states, and increase or diminish the area of any state. Article 4 clarifies that laws made under Article 3, including consequential changes to the First Schedule (the list of states and Union Territories) and the Fourth Schedule (allocation of Rajya Sabha seats), are not to be treated as constitutional amendments requiring the special majority procedure of Article 368. A simple majority in each House, more than half of members present and voting, is enough to pass such a Bill.
The process has one mandatory procedural safeguard. A Bill under Article 3 cannot be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President. Where the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of a state, the President must also refer it to that state’s Legislature to elicit its views within a period specified in the reference. Critically, this is a consultative step, not a veto: Parliament is not bound to accept or even wait indefinitely for the state legislature’s opinion, and can proceed regardless of what the state assembly decides. The mechanism balances the Union’s exclusive constitutional authority over internal state boundaries and nomenclature against a courtesy consultation with the federal unit whose identity is being altered.
Kerala’s Four-Stage Journey to August 10
The renaming did not originate as a unilateral Union decision. It began as a demand from the Kerala Legislative Assembly itself and moved through a sequence of institutional steps before reaching the Lok Sabha floor.
| Date | Stage |
|---|---|
| June 2024 | Kerala Legislative Assembly unanimously passes a resolution seeking to rename the state “Keralam” |
| February 2026 | Union Cabinet approves the proposal to rename Kerala as Keralam |
| June 17, 2026 | President Droupadi Murmu refers the draft Bill to the Kerala Legislature under the Article 3 proviso, seeking its views |
| July 1, 2026 | Kerala Assembly unanimously approves all 10 clauses of the draft Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 |
| August 10, 2026 | Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduces the Bill in the Lok Sabha |
The rationale offered for “Keralam” is linguistic and cultural: it is the name used for the state in Malayalam itself, and the change is presented as aligning the state’s official English-language constitutional name with its native-language identity, similar in spirit to earlier renamings driven by regional-language sentiment.
Precedents: States That Have Changed Their Names Since Independence
Kerala is not breaking new constitutional ground. Several states have gone through the Article 3 name-change route before, while one recent attempt has stalled at the Union government’s door.
| Old Name | New Name | Year Effective | Legal Instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madras | Tamil Nadu | 1969 | Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, effective January 14, 1969 |
| Mysore | Karnataka | 1973 | Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1973 |
| Uttaranchal | Uttarakhand | 2007 | Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006, assented to by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in December 2006, effective January 1, 2007 |
| Orissa | Odisha | 2011 | Orissa (Alteration of Name) Act, 2011, passed by Lok Sabha November 9, 2010, Rajya Sabha March 24, 2011, effective November 1, 2011 |
| West Bengal | “Bangla” (stalled) | Not effected | West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution on July 26, 2018; proposal not accepted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs |
Why West Bengal’s Attempt Stalled
The West Bengal case is instructive precisely because it shows the limits of the consultative process working in the opposite direction. The state government proposed renaming West Bengal on more than one occasion: “Paschimbanga” in 2011, and a three-language formulation (“Bangla” in Bengali, “Bengal” in English, “Bangal” in Hindi) in 2016, before the Assembly passed a resolution in July 2018 for a single name, “Bangla.” The Union Home Ministry did not act on the proposal, citing among its concerns the close phonetic similarity between “Bangla” and the neighbouring country “Bangladesh,” which officials assessed could cause diplomatic and administrative confusion. Because a state legislature’s resolution or view under Article 3 is advisory rather than binding on Parliament, and because a Bill can only be introduced on the President’s recommendation, the Union government’s inaction was constitutionally sufficient to stall the proposal indefinitely. Kerala’s Bill has, by contrast, secured the Union Cabinet’s own approval before reaching Parliament, which is the structural reason it has proceeded to introduction while West Bengal’s has not.
UPSC Relevance
GS Paper 2: Indian Constitution, historical underpinnings, features and amendments; Union-State relations; Article 3 and Article 4 and the distinction between Parliament’s ordinary law-making power over state boundaries/names and the special-majority constitutional amendment procedure under Article 368.
Mains angle: “The power to alter the name of a state under Article 3 illustrates the quasi-federal, Union-heavy character of the Indian Constitution.” Discuss with reference to the procedural safeguards for state legislatures under Article 3 and their non-binding nature, using the Kerala and West Bengal cases as contrasting examples.
Prelims focus: Article 3 versus Article 4; the specific schedules amended (First and Fourth); the difference between a state legislature’s consultative role here and its role in ratifying a constitutional amendment under Article 368; the list of states renamed since 1956’s States Reorganisation Act.
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026:
- Introduced by: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in the Lok Sabha, on August 10, 2026
- Proposed new name: “Keralam”
- Amends: First Schedule (list of states) and Fourth Schedule (Rajya Sabha seat allocation) of the Constitution
Timeline:
- Kerala Assembly resolution: June 2024
- Union Cabinet approval: February 2026
- President’s reference to Kerala Legislature: June 17, 2026
- Kerala Assembly approves draft Bill (10 clauses): July 1, 2026
Constitutional Mechanism:
- Governing provision: Article 3 (Parliament’s power to alter names/boundaries/areas of states)
- Bill requires President’s prior recommendation to be introduced
- State legislature’s views under the Article 3 proviso are advisory, not binding
- Passed by simple majority in each House; not an Article 368 constitutional amendment
Precedents:
- Madras to Tamil Nadu: 1969
- Mysore to Karnataka: 1973
- Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand: 2007
- Orissa to Odisha: 2011
- West Bengal’s “Bangla” proposal (2018 Assembly resolution): not accepted by the Union Home Ministry, citing similarity to “Bangladesh”
Sources: PIB, PRS Legislative Research, The Hindu
Source: Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026: The Article 3 Route to 'Keralam' — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
