Kerala to Keralam: Govt call for name change without extra costs
Kerala's government advises departments against extra spending for renaming to 'Keralam', directing manual correction of existing materials until stock depletion.
Kerala's government advises departments against extra spending for renaming to 'Keralam', directing manual correction of existing materials until stock depletion.
Kerala's government advises departments against extra spending for renaming to 'Keralam', directing manual correction of existing materials until stock depletion.
The Kerala government has directed departments not to incur additional expenses to change the state's name from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’ in official records, boards and other materials.
The General Administration Department has strictly instructed departments not to discard existing stationery or other materials solely to implement the name change. Letterheads, envelopes, forms, registers and files already in stock should be corrected manually and used until the existing stock is exhausted.
It has been directed that on English-language boards, adding an ‘m’ to ‘Kerala’ will be sufficient, while on Malayalam boards, the same practice can be undertaken by adding the relevant Malayalam alphabet.
Official seals and rubber stamps can also be corrected in the same manner and used until they are due for replacement.
The state's name can be changed when offices undergo painting or maintenance work. According to the Chief Secretary's circular, departments were asked not to spend money on replacing equipment, vehicles, furniture or other government property before the end of their service life solely to implement the name change.
Interestingly, while the word ‘Keralam’ has been corrected at the top of the Chief Secretary's order, the bottom of the letter pad still carries the name ‘Kerala’.
The Information Technology Department has been instructed to implement the name change on government websites and other IT systems without incurring additional financial expenditure.