Malayalam Language Bill, 2025

POLITY – STATES

15 JANUARY 2026

On October 6, 2025, the Kerala government tabled the Malayalam Language Bill, 2025 in the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
Three days later, the Bill was passed following scrutiny by the Subject Committee.
The Bill now awaits the assent of the Governor.
However, the Karnataka Government has expressed concerns over the provisions of the Bill as it could hurt the Kannada linguistic minority in Kerala.

Previous attempt:

Over a decade ago, the Kerala government had introduced the Malayalam Language (Dissemination and Enrichment) Bill, 2015, which was also intended to adopt Malayalam as the official language and be used for all official purposes.
Despite being passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the Bill was referred to the President who withheld assent.
The Bill was reserved for the President’s consideration since it contained provisions that contravened the Official Languages Act, 1963.
The Central government also raised objections regarding other provisions pertaining to the rights of linguistic minorities; the three language formula in accordance with the national educational curriculum; and provisions in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
The new Bill has been introduced after removing such defects.

Key Provisions:

It seeks to formally adopt Malayalam as the official language of Kerala, and mandates its use across government, education, judiciary, public communication, commerce, and the digital domain, subject to constitutional provisions. Presently, the State recognises both English and Malayalam as official languages.
Malayalam will become the compulsory first language in all government and aided schools in Kerala up to Class 10.
Steps will also be adopted to translate all judgments and court proceedings in a phased manner.
Besides, all Bills and Ordinances will be introduced in Malayalam.
The draft law also intends to rename the existing Personnel and Administrative Reforms (Official Language) department as the Malayalam Language Development department.
The government will also constitute a Malayalam Language Development Directorate under the department.
The Information Technology department will be entrusted with developing open source software and accessories for the efficient use of Malayalam language in the field of IT.

Linguistic Minorities

The Bill seeks to protect the rights of linguistic minorities, including citizens who consider Tamil, Kannada, Tulu and Konkani as their mother tongues. It contains special provisions for linguistic minorities, who will be permitted to use their mother tongues for correspondence with the State government.
A delegation from the Karnataka Border Area Development Authority submitted a memorandum to Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on behalf of the Karnataka government, seeking his intervention to reject the Bill.
The petitioners contended that linguistic minority students in Kasaragod and other Kannada-speaking regions of Kerala currently study Kannada as their first language in schools.