NEW DELHI: The Center is likely to approve the proposal to rename the state of Kerala in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.Union ministers have been asked to arrive early as there may be a photo-op ahead of the cabinet meeting. Interestingly, this will be the first cabinet meeting held at the new Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Secretariat Seva Teerth.Earlier, the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution urging the Center to bring a constitutional amendment to change the state’s name from “Kerala” to “Kerala”. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved a resolution seeking steps to rename the state to “Kerala” in the First Schedule under Article 3 of the Constitution. He said the name “Kerala” was used in Malayalam and stressed that the demand of the Malayalam community for a united Kerala has been prominent since the time of the national freedom struggle.“The name of our state is written as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution. This Assembly requests the Center to take immediate steps to amend it to ‘Kerala’ under Article III of the Constitution and rename all languages ​​mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution as ‘Kerala’,” Vijayan said.In August 2023, a resolution seeking to officially change the state’s name passed unanimously. The resolution asked the Center to change the name of the state in the First Schedule of the Constitution to “Kerala”. Likewise, the resolution wants the Center to change the names of all languages ​​under the Eighth Schedule to ‘Kerala’.But after detailed verification, it was found that such an amendment is required only in the First Schedule of the Constitution.
