Kerala may become 'Keralam': V S Achuthanandan

Thiruvananthapuram, July 14 (ANI): Chief Minister of Kerala, V S Achuthanandan told the State assembly on Wednesday, that the government would look into demands for changing the official spelling of the state to 'Keralam'.

The onus is put mainly on the way the name of the State is spelt and pronounced in Malayalam.

Achuthanandan said there had been demands from various quarters to change the official spelling of the state.

The issue was raised by Babu M Palissery (CPI-M) as a submission, in which he mentioned that spelling of places like 'Trichur' had already been changed to 'Thrissur' and 'Calicut' to 'Kozhikode', similarly Kerala should also be changed to "Keralam", which means "land of Keras" (coconut trees).

Chief Minister, however, said a decision on the matter would be taken only after evolving a consensus through discussions with experts. (ANI)