Explained | How a state’s name can be changed

The Kerala Assembly has adopted a resolution urging the Centre to officially change the state’s name to ‘Keralam' on Wednesday. Presenting the resolution, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state was called ‘Keralam' in Malayalam, but in other languages it was still Kerala.

Under the First Schedule of the Constitution, the state’s name was recorded as Kerala.

The resolution urged the central government to make amendments necessary under Article 3 of the Constitution to change the state’s name to ‘Keralam’ in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

Article 3

Article 3 of the Constitution deals with the formation of new states and the alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states. It states that:

Parliament may by law

(a) 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;

(b) increase the area of any State;

(d) alter the boundaries of any State;

(e) alter the name of any State:

However, a Bill to this effect can only be introduced in the Parliament on prior recommendation of the President. The President can only make such a recommendation after obtaining the views of the state legislature on the proposals in the Bill.

Names of states changed in past

In 2006, Centre approved changing Uttaranchal’s name to Uttarakhand.
In 2011, Orissa’s name was changed to Odisha and the language became Odia from Oriya.
In 1950, United Provinces was renamed as Uttar Pradesh. On January 24, 1950, the governor-general of India passed United Provinces (Alteration of Name) Order 1950, renaming United Provinces as Uttar Pradesh.

Request for renaming rejected by Centre

In July 2018, the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution to change the name of the state to ‘Bangla’ in the three most-spoken languages — Bengali, Hindi and English — and had sent the proposal to the ministry of home affairs.
It suggested ‘Paschimbanga’ in 2011, but it was turned down by the central government.
In 2016, it proposed ‘Bengal’ in English, ‘Bangla’ in Bengali and ‘Bangal’ in Hindi, which was also turned down.
When earlier proposals were received, there was an objection from the central government that suggested the name ‘Bangla’ had similarity to Bangladesh and it would be difficult to differentiate the two at international forums.

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