Overview
Kerala, renamed Keralam by an Act of Parliament in August 2026 (reported effective 25 August 2026), is a narrow state on the south-western coast of India, between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. It is bordered by Karnataka to the north and north-east and by Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep lies off its coast. The area is about 38,863 sq km (1.18 per cent of India), the length about 560 km, the width about 70 km (one reference) and the coastline about 590 km. Thiruvananthapuram is the capital. This guide uses "Kerala" because exam books, papers and older records do so; both names mean the same state.
The renaming is recent. The Assembly passed a resolution on 24 June 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal on 24 February 2026, the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 passed the Lok Sabha on 11 August and the Rajya Sabha on 12 August 2026, and the Act came into force on 25 August 2026. It amends the First and Fourth Schedules of the Constitution and makes consequential changes to Articles 31A and 290A.
Census 2011 counted 33,406,061 people, a density about three times the national figure. Kerala has India's highest literacy (93.91 per cent) and sex ratio (1,084 females per 1,000 males). It has 14 districts, a 140-seat unicameral Vidhan Sabha, and was formed on 1 November 1956 by joining Malayalam-speaking areas. Pepper drew Greek, Roman, Arab, Chinese and European traders to its ports, and the three units that merged were the princely states of Travancore and Cochin and the Malabar district of the Madras Presidency.
This part covers history, geography, administration and demography. This guide does not name sitting office-holders; for the current Governor, Chief Minister and others, see Current Affairs.
For exam preparation
- Kerala was formed on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, and the capital is Thiruvananthapuram.
- Parliament passed the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill in August 2026 (Lok Sabha 11 August, Rajya Sabha 12 August) and the name became Keralam, reported effective 25 August 2026. Exam answers should accept both names.
- Area is about 38,863 sq km and the coastline about 590 km; the state has 14 districts (as on October 2026).
- Census 2011: population 33,406,061, sex ratio 1,084, literacy 93.91 per cent.
- The Vidhan Sabha has 140 seats and is unicameral.
- Anamudi (2,695 m) in Idukki is the highest peak of the Western Ghats and of India outside the Himalaya.
History
Kerala's past is a story of trade, small kingdoms and layered communities. The Cheras are its earliest known ruling line, the pepper trade tied it to the Mediterranean from ancient times, and after about 1100 CE it broke into rival chiefdoms until Travancore rose in the 18th century. European powers arrived in 1498, the British dominated by 1800, and the state in its present form dates only from 1956.
Early Kerala: Cheras, Sangam age and tradition
King Ashoka's rock edicts (3rd century BCE) name the Keralaputra among the independent kingdoms of the far south. This is usually read as a reference to the Cheras. The Sangam literature of the Tamil country, composed roughly in the early centuries CE, describes Chera kings, their capital Vanchi and their trade in pepper and other goods. Scholars debate whether Vanchi was at Karur (Tamil Nadu) or Kodungallur.
The Parasurama legend. Tradition says the sage Parasurama threw his axe into the sea and the waters retreated, creating the land from Gokarna to Kanyakumari, which he gave to Brahmins. This is a legend recorded in later texts such as the Keralolpatti, not a historical event, and exam answers should present it as tradition.
The Kulasekhara period. After the Sangam age, a second Chera line, the Kulasekhara dynasty (also called the Perumals), ruled from Mahodayapuram, near present Kodungallur, from the 9th century. The dynasty was weakened by attacks from the Cholas (a Chola invasion of Venad and the sacking of Kollam are dated to 1096 in one standard account) and ended in the early 12th century. After that Kerala broke into about thirty chiefdoms.
Muziris and the spice trade
Muziris (Muchiri) was the best-known port of early Kerala. Pliny the Elder called it the first trading centre of India, and the Greek text Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century CE) describes the coast's trade in pepper, pearls and ivory, paid for largely with Roman gold. Its exact site is debated: older views place it near Kodungallur, while excavations from 2007 at Pattanam (between Kodungallur and North Paravur) found Roman pottery and coins, a brick wharf and a wooden canoe, leading some scholars to identify Pattanam as Muziris, a view still contested. The port disappears from records after a great flood of the Periyar in 1341, which opened a new harbour at Kochi.
Jews, Christians and Muslims
Kerala's religious communities arrived early and by sea, mostly through trade.
- Jews. Local tradition says Jews reached Kodungallur after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Cochin Jews' main documents are copper plates, granted to a leader named Joseph Rabban, which give privileges to the community; their date is uncertain (between about the 4th and 11th centuries). Sephardic Jews from Spain came later (Paradesi Jews). Most Cochin Jews moved to Israel after 1948.
- Christians. The Syrian Christians (Thomas Christians) trace their origin to the apostle St Thomas, said by tradition to have landed in Kerala in 52 CE. This is a tradition with no firm documentary proof.
- Muslims. Arab traders were in contact with the coast long before Islam, and the Muslim community of Kerala (today called Mappilas) grew through trade and intermarriage. Tradition holds that the Cheraman Juma Masjid at Kodungallur was built in 629 CE and is India's first mosque; the date rests on tradition and is not firmly proved.
Medieval kingdoms, the Zamorin and Vasco da Gama
By the 14th century the main powers were the Zamorin of Kozhikode (Calicut) in the north, the Kingdom of Cochin around Kochi and the south of the Ponnani river, Venad, which later became Travancore, in the south,. The Zamorin ruled from about 1124 to 1806, and Kozhikode was a leading Indian Ocean port visited by the Chinese admiral Zheng He in the early 15th century.
1498. Vasco da Gama landed at Kappad, near Kozhikode, in 1498, having sailed round the Cape of Good Hope. This opened the sea route from Europe to India and began European rule on the coast. Relations with the Zamorin soured as the Portuguese tried to control the spice trade. In 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral reached Kochi and the Raja of Cochin allied with the Portuguese against the Zamorin. Fort Emmanuel at Kochi (1503) is described as the first European fort in India.
The Zamorin's navy, led by the Kunjali Marakkars, resisted the Portuguese; the Zamorin's forces won at Chaliyam in 1571 (one reference). The Dutch took Kochi from the Portuguese in 1663.
Travancore, Cochin and Marthanda Varma
Travancore. Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, who ruled from 1729 to 1758, built modern Travancore. He defeated a Dutch force at the Battle of Colachel on 10 August 1741, a turning point because it ended Dutch ambitions in the region. By campaigns completed around 1753 he annexed Quilon (Kollam), Kayamkulam, Ambalapuzha, Kottayam and other small states, and reduced the power of the Nair chiefs (the Ettuveettil Pillamar). The Treaty of Mavelikkara with the Dutch (15 August 1753) ended the conflict. In 1749-50 he dedicated the kingdom to Sri Padmanabha, the deity of the Thiruvananthapuram temple, and thereafter ruled as the deity's servant (Padmanabha Dasa), a practice his successors continued. Travancore accepted a subsidiary alliance with the British in 1795.
Cochin. Cochin began as the Perumpadappu Swaroopam near Ponnani, moved to Kodungallur and then Kochi, allied with the Portuguese and then the Dutch, and came under British influence in the early 19th century. It was among the first princely states to join the Indian Union.
Mysore and Malabar. Mysore invaded the north from 1766 and held Malabar until the Treaty of Seringapatam (1792), after which the British took it. Malabar became a district of the Madras Presidency; Kasaragod was then part of South Canara in the same presidency.
Social reform, Vaikom and the Temple Entry Proclamation
Lower-caste people were barred from temples and even from nearby roads; reformers such as Sree Narayana Guru challenged this from the late 19th century.
Vaikom Satyagraha. The campaign began on 30 March 1924 at Vaikom, in Travancore, to open the roads around the Mahadeva temple to all castes. Leaders included T.K. Madhavan, K.P. Kesava Menon, K. Kelappan and George Joseph, and E.V. Ramasamy (Periyar) took part and was jailed. Mahatma Gandhi visited in March 1925. It ended on 23 November 1925 with partial success: the roads opened, but the temple stayed closed.
Temple Entry Proclamation. On 12 November 1936 the Maharaja of Travancore, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, issued the Proclamation opening all government-controlled temples to Hindus of every caste. Gandhi praised it. Cochin and Malabar followed later, in 1947-48 by one account.
Freedom movement and the Mappila rebellion
The national movement had a strong base in Malabar, and in Travancore and Cochin a demand for responsible government grew in the 1930s and 1940s. The Aikya Kerala (United Kerala) idea of joining all Malayalam-speaking areas gained support from the late 1920s.
Malabar (Mappila) rebellion, 1921. From August 1921 Mappila farmers in the Eranad and Valluvanad areas of Malabar rose against the government, after a police raid at Tirurangadi. Tenants faced high rents and insecure tenure, and the Khilafat agitation gave the revolt an organisation. Variyamkunnath Kunhahammad Haji emerged as a leader. The rising was suppressed by early 1922. Official figures record 2,337 rebels killed and about 45,000 imprisoned; unofficial estimates of the dead are far higher. In November 1921 prisoners died of suffocation in a closed goods wagon (the Wagon Tragedy; sources differ on date and number). Historians disagree on the character of the rebellion: colonial officials stressed religious fanaticism, while many modern historians stress agrarian grievances and anti-British feeling. Attacks on Hindus also occurred, which is part of the dispute.
Formation of Kerala (1956)
When India became independent, Travancore first thought of staying independent but joined the Union in 1947. Travancore and Cochin were merged as the state of Travancore-Cochin on 1 July 1949. Malabar remained part of Madras State. The States Reorganisation Commission, headed by Fazl Ali with K.M. Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru, submitted its report on 30 September 1955. Under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Kerala was formed on 1 November 1956 by merging Travancore-Cochin (except its southern Tamil-speaking taluks, which went to Madras State), the Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara district. Thiruvananthapuram became the capital.
After 1956. The first Assembly was constituted on 5 April 1957 with 127 members, including one nominated member. The first government, led by E.M.S. Namboodiripad of the Communist Party of India, was the first democratically elected Communist government in the world's most populous democracy. It was dismissed in 1959 under Article 356.
Land reforms
Land reform was a central project. The Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill, 1957 (introduced by K.R. Gouri Amma) proposed secure tenure, fair rent and a ceiling on holdings. A revised version passed by the Assembly in 1960 was struck down by the Kerala High Court, and the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 set up the machinery. The decisive step was the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969, which came into force on 1 January 1970 and ended landlordism by making cultivating tenants the owners; it also gave hutment dwellers (kudikidappukar) rights over their homestead plots, typically a few cents of land. Critics note that tribal communities and many labourers gained little land. The reforms are widely seen as among the most thorough in India.
For exam preparation
- The Cheras (Keralaputra) appear in Ashoka's edicts; Muziris was the ancient pepper port and was lost after the 1341 Periyar flood.
- Vasco da Gama reached Kappad (Kozhikode) in 1498; Fort Emmanuel at Kochi (1503) was the first European fort in India.
- Marthanda Varma defeated the Dutch at Colachel on 10 August 1741; the Treaty of Mavelikkara was signed on 15 August 1753.
- The Vaikom Satyagraha ran from 30 March 1924 to 23 November 1925; the Temple Entry Proclamation was issued on 12 November 1936.
- Travancore-Cochin was formed on 1 July 1949; modern Kerala on 1 November 1956.
- The Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969 came into force on 1 January 1970.
Geography
Kerala is a ribbon of land along the Arabian Sea. From east to west it moves from the high Western Ghats, through rolling hills and plantation country, to a flat coastal plain of backwaters, lagoons and paddy fields. About 44 short rivers rise in the Ghats and most flow west to the sea. The state gets two monsoons and some of the heaviest rain in India.
Location and boundaries
The state lies on the south-western tip of the Indian peninsula, about 8° to 13° north. Karnataka (Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts) is to the north and north-east. Tamil Nadu lies to the east (across the Ghats) and south (below Thiruvananthapuram). The Arabian Sea, called the Lakshadweep Sea in its southern part, forms the western boundary along a coastline of about 590 km. Area is 38,863 sq km, making Kerala 21st by area among states. The state is about 560 km long and about 70 km wide.
The state has an oddity: Mahe, part of Puducherry, is an enclave within north Kerala, on the Malabar coast.
Physiography
Kerala is divided into three belts running north-south, based on elevation:
| Belt | Typical elevation | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Highland | Above about 75 m (reported) | The Western Ghats and their foothills; forests, tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber |
| Midland | About 7.5 to 75 m (reported) | Rolling hills and valleys; coconut, rubber, spices, rice |
| Lowland (coastal) | Below about 7.5 m (reported) | Sandy plain, lagoons and backwaters; coconut, paddy, fisheries |
The elevation limits are a standard classification but were not confirmed from an official page here, so they are marked reported.
The Western Ghats. The Ghats form an almost continuous wall on the eastern border, about 450 km long within Kerala (reported). The state's highest point is Anamudi at 2,695 m in the Idukki district, the highest peak in India south of the Himalaya. The range has more than 50 peaks above about 1,500 m. The Ghats carry the Eravikulam, Silent Valley and Periyar protected areas and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2012). At Palakkad (the Palakkad or Palghat Gap) the range breaks, which allows rail, roads and the monsoon winds to pass between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Kerala the Ghats are also home to hill stations such as Munnar and Ponmudi.
Lowest point. Kuttanad, in the Vembanad basin, is a rice-growing area where fields lie about 2.7 m below sea level, the lowest cultivated land in India.
Backwaters. A chain of lagoons, canals and estuaries runs parallel to the sea, which locals use as waterways. Reference works count about 34 backwater bodies (reported). The largest is Vembanad Lake, about 96.5 km long, stretching over Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam districts and opening to the sea at Kochi. It was recognised as a Ramsar site in 2002. Reports give very different figures for its area (some about 230 sq km water spread, one reference 2,033 sq km), so no area is quoted here. The Thanneermukkom barrage keeps salt water out of Kuttanad. The Nehru Trophy Boat Race is held on the Punnamada lake in Alappuzha. Other lakes include Ashtamudi (Kollam) and Sasthamkotta, the largest freshwater lake in the state.
Rivers and lakes
Kerala has 44 rivers: 41 flow west and three flow east (the Kabini, Bhavani and Pambar, which join the Kaveri system). They are short (average length about 64 km), fed by monsoon rain and have no deltas. Many shrink in summer.
| River | Length | Source and course | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Periyar | 244 km | Rises in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Idukki; flows north-west past Aluva to Vembanad | Longest river in Kerala; catchment about 5,398 sq km; Idukki and Mullaperiyar dams |
| Bharathapuzha (Ponnani river) | 209 km | Anamalai hills; flows west through Palakkad and Thrissur to the sea at Ponnani | Second longest; central to the culture of north Kerala |
| Pamba | 176 km | Pulachimala, Idukki; through Pathanamthitta and Kuttanad to Vembanad | Third longest; Sabarimala is on its banks |
| Chaliyar | 169 km | Western Ghats near Nilambur; flows west past Beypore to the sea | Fourth longest; Nilambur teak area |
| Kabini | -- | Wayanad; flows east | Joins the Kaveri in Karnataka |
| Bhavani and Pambar | -- | Attappadi and Munnar areas; flow east | Join the Kaveri system in Tamil Nadu |
Other rivers include the Chalakudy, Kadalundi, Valapattanam, Achankovil, Kallada, Manimala and Muvattupuzha. The Pamba, Muvattupuzha and Periyar are among six major rivers feeding Vembanad. Lengths of those minor rivers are not tabulated here because the sources opened did not agree.
Climate
Kerala has a tropical monsoon climate. Annual rainfall averages about 3,000 mm (sources give 2,923 mm and 3,107 mm), more than double the national average. About 120 to 140 rainy days a year are typical. The south-west monsoon (June to September, with most rain in June to August) provides the bulk; Kerala is usually the first part of India where it arrives, around the start of June. The north-east monsoon (October to November) brings heavy rain in the south of the state. Summer (March to May) is hot and humid; winter (December to February) is mild. Mean daily temperatures range from about 19.8°C to 36.7°C (one reference).
Floods and landslides are recurring hazards. The severe floods of August 2018 are the worst in recent decades, and the landslide at Mundakkai-Chooralmala in Wayanad (July 2024) was another disaster, both caused by extreme monsoon rain on steep slopes. (Death tolls differ between sources and are not given here.)
Soils
Common soil types are laterite (the most widespread, in the midland and parts of the highland), alluvial soils along rivers and the coast, forest soils of the Ghats, coastal sands, and the acidic, organic "kari" and "kayal" soils of Kuttanad. Detailed percentage shares were not confirmed from an official page and are omitted.
Forests, wildlife and protected areas
Forest area is about 10,336 sq km according to one list (about 27 per cent of the state); another reference gives about 9,400 sq km (24 per cent), the difference arising from the definitions used. The forests include evergreen and semi-evergreen tracts, moist deciduous forest and high-altitude shola grassland. Kerala holds a large share of India's flowering-plant species, and its birds, amphibians and reptiles include many species found only in the Western Ghats. The Nilgiri tahr is the best-known endemic mammal, and the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve are both partly in Kerala.
One reference list states that protected areas cover about 2,449 sq km (about 6.3 per cent of the state), with six national parks (558 sq km), 14 wildlife sanctuaries, two biosphere reserves and two tiger reserves.
| Protected area | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Periyar | National park and tiger reserve | Thekkady; park declared 1982, tiger reserve 1978; the first conservation step was a game reserve by the Travancore ruler in 1934 |
| Eravikulam | National park | Near Munnar; park declared 1978; Nilgiri tahr; Anamudi lies nearby |
| Silent Valley | National park | Palakkad; declared 1984; known for the campaign against a dam |
| Parambikulam | Tiger reserve | Palakkad; notified 2009 |
| Wayanad | Wildlife sanctuary | About 344 sq km; the largest of the sanctuaries |
| Neyyar | Wildlife sanctuary | Near Thiruvananthapuram |
| Nilgiri | Biosphere reserve | 1986; shared with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka |
| Agasthyamalai | Biosphere reserve | 2001; shared with Tamil Nadu |
For exam preparation
- Kerala has 44 rivers (41 west-flowing, 3 east-flowing); the longest are the Periyar (244 km), Bharathapuzha (209 km), Pamba (176 km) and Chaliyar (169 km).
- Anamudi (2,695 m) is the highest peak in the Western Ghats; the Palakkad Gap is the main break in the range.
- Vembanad is the longest lake in India (about 96.5 km) and a Ramsar site (2002); Kuttanad has rice farming below sea level.
- The state's coastline is about 590 km; Mahe (Puducherry) is an enclave in north Kerala.
- The south-west monsoon normally reaches Kerala first, around early June.
- Periyar (1982, tiger reserve 1978), Eravikulam (1978) and Silent Valley (1984) are the main national parks.
Administration and districts
As on October 2026, Kerala has 14 districts, 27 revenue divisions and about 78 taluks (some sources say 77). The revenue villages number about 1,664 to 1,670 depending on whether group villages are counted. Each district is headed by a District Collector, an IAS officer; each revenue division by a Revenue Divisional Officer, each taluk by a Tahsildar and each village by a Village Officer.
Regions and zones
Two ways of grouping the districts appear in books. The historical grouping follows the three units merged in 1956; the geographic grouping splits the state into north, central and south.
| Historical region | Districts |
|---|---|
| Malabar (Madras Presidency district, plus Kasaragod from South Canara) | Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad |
| Cochin (princely state) | Thrissur, Ernakulam |
| Travancore (princely state) | Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram |
The Cochin and Travancore labels are approximate because the old state borders did not follow today's district lines exactly; Ernakulam and Idukki in particular contain parts of both. The geographic grouping used by one reference is North Kerala (Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode), Central Kerala (Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam) and South Kerala (the other six). For policing, Kerala is separated into two zones (North and South) and four ranges, with 20 police districts (reported).
District table
Population is from Census 2011 (final district totals sum to the state total of 33,406,061). The formed column uses dates from one district list. Area figures were not consistent across sources and are omitted.
| District | Headquarters | Historical region | Formed | Population 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thiruvananthapuram | Thiruvananthapuram | Travancore | 1 Nov 1956 | 3,301,427 |
| Kollam | Kollam | Travancore | 1 Nov 1956 | 2,635,375 |
| Pathanamthitta | Pathanamthitta | Travancore | 1 Nov 1982 | 1,197,412 |
| Alappuzha | Alappuzha | Travancore | 17 Aug 1957 | 2,127,789 |
| Kottayam | Kottayam | Travancore | 1 Nov 1956 | 1,974,551 |
| Idukki | Painavu | Travancore | 26 Jan 1972 | 1,108,974 |
| Ernakulam | Kakkanad | Cochin | 1 Apr 1958 | 3,282,388 |
| Thrissur | Thrissur | Cochin | 1 Nov 1956 | 3,121,200 |
| Palakkad | Palakkad | Malabar | 1 Jan 1957 | 2,809,934 |
| Malappuram | Malappuram | Malabar | 16 Jun 1969 | 4,112,920 |
| Kozhikode | Kozhikode | Malabar | 1 Jan 1957 | 3,086,293 |
| Wayanad | Kalpetta | Malabar | 1 Nov 1980 | 817,420 |
| Kannur | Kannur | Malabar | 1 Jan 1957 | 2,523,003 |
| Kasaragod | Kasaragod | Malabar | 24 May 1984 | 1,307,375 |
Malappuram is the most populous district (4,112,920) and Wayanad the least populous (817,420). Idukki is the largest by area and Alappuzha the smallest. Malappuram also recorded the fastest growth in 2001-2011 (about 13.45 per cent), while Pathanamthitta (about -2.97 per cent) and Idukki (about -1.79 per cent) lost population. Ernakulam is the most urbanised district (about 68 per cent in one list). Kasaragod is the youngest district. District-level population figures also appear with slightly different totals on some sites (one list gives 4,110,956 for Malappuram), so check against the Census of India tables if exactness matters. Older books use Trivandrum for Thiruvananthapuram, Quilon for Kollam, Cochin for Kochi, Calicut for Kozhikode, Cannanore for Kannur, Trichur for Thrissur and Palghat for Palakkad.
Formation of districts
At statehood, the lists show five districts: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Thrissur and Malabar. Malabar was divided on 1 January 1957 into Kannur, Kozhikode and Palakkad. Alappuzha (1957) and Ernakulam (1958) followed, and Malappuram came in 1969, Idukki in 1972, Wayanad in 1980, Pathanamthitta in 1982 and Kasaragod on 24 May 1984, the last to be formed. The count has been 14 since 1984 (as on October 2026).
Demands for new districts are regular. Tirur and Valluvanad (from Malappuram and Palakkad), Muvattupuzha and Neyyattinkara have been proposed, according to one list of proposals. None has been created as of October 2026, to the extent the sources opened show.
Local government
Kerala has a three-tier Panchayati Raj system in rural areas and a municipal system in towns. As on October 2026, there are 14 district panchayats, 152 block panchayats and 941 grama panchayats, along with 87 municipalities and 6 municipal corporations (Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur), 1,200 local bodies in all. The 2025 ward delimitation, based on the 2011 Census, raised the total number of wards from about 21,900 to 23,612. Elections to local bodies were held in December 2025 in 1,199 of the 1,200 bodies (details in Part B). Kerala was an early state to push decentralisation: the People's Plan Campaign of 1996 transferred a large share of plan funds to local bodies.
Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas
Kerala has no Sixth Schedule area. It has no Fifth Schedule area either, as no Scheduled Area has been declared in the state (to the extent confirmed here). The Scheduled Tribe population is small, and tribal rights are handled through the Forest Rights Act and state tribal development programmes, with the main concentrations in Wayanad, Idukki, Palakkad and Kasaragod.
For exam preparation
- Kerala has 14 districts; Kasaragod (24 May 1984) is the youngest and Malappuram was formed in 1969.
- Malappuram is the most populous district and Wayanad the least populated (Census 2011); Idukki is the largest by area.
- Historical regions: Malabar (including Kasaragod, Palakkad), Cochin (Thrissur, Ernakulam) and Travancore (the six southern districts).
- Local bodies: 14 district panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 941 grama panchayats, 87 municipalities and 6 corporations (as on October 2026).
- There are 27 revenue divisions and about 78 taluks.
- Municipal corporations: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur.
Demography
Census 2011 is still the latest published census, and the results of Census 2027 are not out. It counted 33,406,061 people in Kerala, about 2.76 per cent of India, with a very low decadal growth of 4.91 per cent. Kerala tops the states in literacy, has an unusual surplus of women, and is far more urbanised in practice than the census definition shows.
Census 2011 at a glance
| Indicator (Census 2011) | Value |
|---|---|
| Population | 33,406,061 |
| Males | 16,027,412 |
| Females | 17,378,649 |
| Decadal growth, 2001 to 2011 | 4.91 per cent (9.42 per cent in 1991-2001) |
| Density | about 860 per sq km (one source: 859) |
| Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) | 1,084 |
| Child sex ratio (0 to 6) | about 959 to 964 (sources differ) |
| Literacy (age 7 and above) | 93.91 per cent (male 96.02, female 91.98) |
| Urban population | about 47.7 per cent |
| Rural population | about 52.3 per cent |
| Scheduled Castes | 3,039,573 (about 9.1 per cent) |
| Scheduled Tribes | 484,839 (about 1.5 per cent) |
A provisional literacy of 94.00 per cent appears on some sites; the final figure is 93.91. Kerala has the highest literacy and the highest sex ratio among Indian states. Some reference pages quote an urban share near 79 per cent, which counts a wider, settlement-based area; the census figure of 47.7 per cent is the one to use in exams. Kerala's actual settlement pattern is almost continuous along the coast, so even rural areas look semi-urban. Kochi (Ernakulam) is the largest urban agglomeration, with about 2.12 million people, followed by Kozhikode and Thrissur.
Kerala has an ageing population and a very large migrant community. One reference puts Keralites living abroad at about 2.28 million in 2011, with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia the largest host countries. Remittances are a major part of the state economy (covered in Part C).
Languages
Malayalam is the official language and the mother tongue of 97.03 per cent of the people (32,413,213 speakers in Census 2011). It is a Dravidian language and a classical language of India (2013). Tamil is the next largest, spoken mainly in Idukki and Palakkad along the Tamil Nadu border; small groups speak Kannada, Tulu and Konkani, mainly in Kasaragod. English is widely used in administration and education.
Religion
| Religion (Census 2011) | Share of population |
|---|---|
| Hindus | 54.73 per cent |
| Muslims | 26.56 per cent |
| Christians | 18.38 per cent |
| Others and not stated | about 0.3 per cent |
Christians have a large share (18.38 per cent) and Muslims are above a quarter. The Muslim share is highest in Malappuram district, and Christians are concentrated in central Travancore (Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Ernakulam). District percentages were not confirmed here and are not tabulated.
Tribes and castes
Scheduled Tribes are only about 1.5 per cent of the population, although Wayanad has the largest number of tribal people (151,443 in one source, about 36 per cent of the district's people), followed by Idukki (55,815), Palakkad (48,972) and Kasaragod (48,857). Communities such as the Paniyan, Kuruma and Adiyan are among those found in Wayanad. The Scheduled Castes number about 3.04 million.
Human development
Kerala has long been cited for human development that is high compared with its income: high literacy, low infant mortality and long life expectancy (one reference gives 77.3 years). A reference gives the state's Human Development Index (2023) as 0.804, second among states. NFHS-5 data and the NITI Aayog indices are covered under Economy and Health in Part C.
For exam preparation
- Census 2011 population is 33,406,061; the decadal growth of 4.91 per cent was among the lowest in India.
- Sex ratio is 1,084 (females per 1,000 males), the highest in India; literacy is 93.91 per cent, also the highest.
- Urban share is about 47.7 per cent (Census 2011).
- Malayalam is spoken by 97.03 per cent; it became a classical language in 2013.
- Religion: Hindus 54.73, Muslims 26.56 and Christians 18.38 per cent.
- Scheduled Castes are about 9.1 per cent and Scheduled Tribes about 1.5 per cent; Wayanad has the largest tribal population.
How the state is governed
Kerala has a parliamentary system under the Constitution of India: a Governor as constitutional head, a Chief Minister who leads an elected government, and a single-chamber (unicameral) Assembly of 140 members, known locally as the Niyamasabha. This section describes structure, which stays the same from one government to the next. Names of sitting office-holders change, so this guide does not list them; for the current Governor, Chief Minister, ministers, Chief Secretary, State Police Chief and Chief Justice, use the official state portal and our current affairs pages. Past office-holders with completed tenures are listed later in this part. Kerala came into being on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, and its capital is Thiruvananthapuram, where the Secretariat and the Assembly are located (the Assembly complex, the Niyamasabha Mandiram, was commissioned on 22 May 1998; Wikipedia).
The executive
| Office | Role | How filled |
|---|---|---|
| Governor | Constitutional head; summons, prorogues and dissolves the Assembly, gives assent to bills, appoints the Chief Minister | Appointed by the President for a term of five years, serving at the President's pleasure (Articles 153 to 156) |
| Chief Minister | Head of the government; leads the council of ministers | Leader of the party or front that commands a majority in the Assembly, appointed by the Governor |
| Council of ministers | Runs the departments; collectively responsible to the Assembly | Capped at 15 per cent of the House under Article 164(1A), which is 21 for a House of 140 (our calculation) |
| Chief Secretary | Head of the civil service and the Secretariat | Senior IAS officer chosen by the government |
| State Police Chief (DGP) | Head of the state police | IPS officer, selected under the Supreme Court's Prakash Singh guidelines |
| Advocate General | Chief legal adviser to the government | Appointed by the Governor under Article 165 |
Before the Constitution came into force the head of a provincial government was a Premier or Prime Minister, but Kerala was formed only in 1956, so every head of government since then has been a Chief Minister. The state's first government took office on 5 April 1957, which is covered under Elections below.
Departments and bodies
The government works through departments headed by ministers and run by secretaries. Constitutional and statutory bodies include:
- the Kerala Public Service Commission (Articles 315 to 323), which conducts recruitment to state services (see our exam guides; we did not confirm its founding date);
- the Kerala State Election Commission, set up on 3 December 1993 under Articles 243K and 243ZA after the 73rd and 74th Amendments, which conducts panchayat and municipal elections (Wikipedia);
- the State Finance Commission, the State Information Commission and the State Human Rights Commission; and
- the Kerala Lokayukta, covered in the next section.
The Chief Electoral Officer, a senior officer appointed with the approval of the Election Commission of India, runs elections to the Assembly and Parliament. The state has 14 districts, and local government has a very large footprint: 1,200 local bodies, made up of 941 gram panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 87 municipalities and 6 municipal corporations (Wikipedia's table of local body results; Part A carries the district list). Local bodies are covered under Elections below.
For exam preparation
- The Governor is appointed by the President; the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor.
- The council of ministers is capped at 15 per cent of the House under Article 164(1A), inserted by the 91st Amendment (2003); for Kerala that works out at 21.
- The Advocate General is covered by Article 165; the Governor's powers by Articles 153 to 167.
- The Kerala State Election Commission was set up on 3 December 1993 under Articles 243K and 243ZA.
- The state has 1,200 local bodies: 941 gram, 152 block and 14 district panchayats, 87 municipalities and 6 corporations.
- Kerala was formed on 1 November 1956; the Niyamasabha Mandiram in Thiruvananthapuram dates from 1998.
Legislature, Parliament and judiciary
Kerala has a single-chamber legislature, the Niyamasabha or Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly), of 140 members. It has no Legislative Council. The state sends 9 members to the Rajya Sabha (as given in our brief; we did not separately confirm the figure from the Rajya Sabha site) and 20 to the Lok Sabha. The 16th Assembly was elected in April 2026, with polling on 9 April and counting on 4 May 2026.
Niyamasabha (Vidhan Sabha)
The Assembly meets in Thiruvananthapuram and has a normal term of five years. The first Assembly convened on 5 April 1957 and, per Wikipedia, had 127 members including one nominated member. The strength was 126 in 1957 and 1960, 133 from 1965 and 140 from 1977 (see the table in Elections). The majority mark is 71. Under the delimitation that took effect after 2007, 14 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 2 for Scheduled Tribes (Mananthavady and Sulthan Bathery, both in Wayanad), leaving 124 General (Wikipedia's list of constituencies). The ST share is small because tribal people are a small part of Kerala's population; Part A has the Census 2011 figures. Kerala had a nominated Anglo-Indian seat in the early Assemblies; the constitutional provision for such nomination was ended by amendment in 2020 (reported, not separately confirmed).
The result of the 2026 election, the latest, is below. Strength changes through by-elections, resignations and defections, so we give the election result and not the live position. For the live position, see the Assembly website.
| Front or party | Seats, 2026 election |
|---|---|
| United Democratic Front (UDF) | 102 |
| of which Indian National Congress (INC) | 63 |
| of which Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) | 22 (reported; one source shows 26, which looks like seats contested) |
| Left Democratic Front (LDF) | 35 |
| of which Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) | 26 |
| National Democratic Alliance (NDA), all won by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) | 3 |
| Total | 140 |
The UDF seat count is the largest it has ever won in the state, according to Wikipedia. Details and context are in Elections.
Speakers and officers
The Speaker presides over the House and is elected by members at the first sitting of a new Assembly. Wikipedia names R. Sankara Narayanan Thampi as the Speaker of the first Assembly (1957). Past Speakers are listed later in this part. The incumbent Speaker and Deputy Speaker are not named here.
Rajya Sabha
Kerala elects 9 members, who serve six-year terms and are chosen by MLAs through the single transferable vote. Terms are staggered, so seats fall due in batches. We have not listed members.
Lok Sabha
The state has 20 constituencies. Two are reserved for Scheduled Castes: Alathur (confirmed in a search result) and Mavelikara (from our own knowledge, not confirmed in the sources we opened). There is no ST-reserved Lok Sabha seat in Kerala (not separately confirmed). The Alathur constituency was created by the delimitation of 2008. The 20-seat total has stood since 1980; earlier Lok Sabhas had 17 to 19 Kerala seats (Wikipedia's Elections in Kerala table). Seat totals for both Parliament and the Assemblies remain frozen at 1971-Census levels by constitutional amendments until the first Census after 2026 is published (our summary of Article 82; not confirmed in the sources we opened).
High Court
The Kerala High Court sits at Kochi (Ernakulam) and has jurisdiction over Kerala and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Per Wikipedia:
- The High Court of Travancore-Cochin was established on 7 July 1949 after the integration of the two princely states.
- The Kerala High Court was established on 1 November 1956 with the formation of the state; one search result puts the inauguration at Ram Mohan Palace, Kochi on 5 November 1956.
- The present building was inaugurated on 11 February 2006 and has nine floors on a 5-acre site.
The sanctioned strength is 47 judges, 35 permanent and 12 additional (Wikipedia; strength can be revised by the Centre). Below the High Court are district and sessions courts in each district, family courts and special courts. Past Chief Justices are covered later in this part; the incumbent is not named.
Lokayukta, Election Commission and other bodies
The Kerala Lokayukta is the state's anti-corruption ombudsman. Wikipedia says it was formed on 15 November 1998 under the Kerala Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta Act, which received the President's assent on 4 March 1999 (the two dates sit oddly together, and we did not resolve the sequence). A bench has judicial and non-judicial members with an Upa-Lokayukta as deputy. The Governor appoints the Lokayukta after consulting a committee that includes the Chief Minister, the Speaker and the Leader of Opposition. The Kerala State Election Commission, set up on 3 December 1993, conducts panchayat and municipal elections; the Governor appoints the State Election Commissioner, who can be removed only in the way a High Court judge can be.
For exam preparation
- The Assembly has 140 seats: 124 General, 14 SC and 2 ST (Mananthavady and Sulthan Bathery); the majority mark is 71.
- Kerala has a unicameral legislature; it has no Legislative Council.
- Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats and 9 Rajya Sabha seats.
- The strength was 126 in 1957, 133 from 1965 and 140 from 1977.
- The Kerala High Court was established on 1 November 1956 and sits at Kochi; it also covers Lakshadweep.
- The High Court of Travancore-Cochin was established on 7 July 1949.
- The Kerala State Election Commission was set up on 3 December 1993.
Elections
Kerala has held 17 general elections to the Assembly since 1957 if the abortive poll of 1965 is counted (the 1965 Assembly never met), so the Assembly elected in 2026 is the 16th. The state made history in 1957 by electing the first democratically elected communist government anywhere in the world, according to the usual description of the event. The 1960s and 1970s were years of shifting coalitions and President's Rule. Since 1980 the contest has been between two fronts, the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the CPI(M), and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Indian National Congress. From 1980 to 2016 power changed hands after every election. In 2021 the LDF broke that pattern by winning a second term, and in 2026 the UDF won 102 of 140 seats, so power changed again.
Assembly elections, 1957 to 2026
Party names are those used at the time. Seat counts are from Wikipedia's election pages and its Elections in Kerala table. Turnout is shown where we found a statewide figure; "n/c" means not confirmed. For several early elections, front-level vote shares were not confirmed and are left blank.
| Year | Seats | Largest parties or fronts (seats) | Government after the election |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | 126 | CPI 60, INC 43 | CPI, with the support of 5 independents |
| 1960 | 126 | INC 63, CPI 29, PSP 20, IUML 11 | PSP-INC coalition |
| 1965 | 133 | CPI(M) 40, INC 36 | No government formed; President's Rule |
| 1967 | 133 | CPI(M) 52, CPI 19, SSP 19, IUML 14, INC 9 | United Front led by CPI(M) |
| 1970 | 133 | INC 30, CPI(M) 29, CPI 16, KC 12, IUML 11 | CPI-led coalition with Congress support |
| 1977 | 140 | INC 38, CPI 23, KC 20, CPI(M) 17, IUML 13 | INC-led United Front |
| 1980 | 140 | LDF 93, UDF 46 (reported) | LDF |
| 1982 | 140 | UDF 77, LDF 63 (reported) | UDF |
| 1987 | 140 | LDF 78, UDF 61, Independent 1 | LDF |
| 1991 | 140 | UDF 90, LDF 48 | UDF |
| 1996 | 140 | LDF 80, UDF 59 | LDF |
| 2001 | 140 | UDF 99, LDF 40 | UDF |
| 2006 | 140 | LDF 98, UDF 42 | LDF |
| 2011 | 140 | UDF 72, LDF 68 | UDF |
| 2016 | 140 | LDF 91, UDF 47 | LDF |
| 2021 | 140 | LDF 99, UDF 41 | LDF |
| 2026 | 140 | UDF 102, LDF 35, NDA 3 | UDF |
Note on 1980 to 1991: individual election pages gave summaries that did not agree with Wikipedia's overview table for 1980 (one gave LDF 98), 1982 (one gave UDF 68) and 1991, so we used the overview table, which matches the commonly quoted figures, and mark 1980 and 1982 as reported. Totals in a few years leave one seat for an independent or rebel: 1987 and 2001 (a UDF rebel) had one such seat each.
Vote share and turnout, 1957 to 2026
| Year | Front or party vote share | Turnout |
|---|---|---|
| 1957 | CPI 35.28, INC 37.85 | 65.49 |
| 1960 | CPI 39.14, INC 34.42, PSP 14.14 | 85.72 |
| 1965 | n/c | 75.12 |
| 1967 | CPI(M) 23.51, INC 35.43 | 75.67 |
| 1970 | n/c | 75.29 |
| 1977 | n/c | 79.19 |
| 1980 | n/c | about 72.2 (derived from the 1982 change) |
| 1982 | n/c | 73.51 |
| 1987 | n/c | 80.54 |
| 1991 | n/c | 73.42 |
| 1996 | INC 30.43, CPI(M) 21.59 (front shares n/c) | 71.16 |
| 2001 | UDF 49.05, LDF 43.70 | 72.47 |
| 2006 | LDF 48.63, UDF 42.98 | 72.08 |
| 2011 | UDF 45.83, LDF 44.94 | 75.26 |
| 2016 | LDF 43.48, UDF 38.81 | 77.53 |
| 2021 | LDF 45.43, UDF 39.47, NDA 12.41 | not confirmed (sources differ: 74 to 76) |
| 2026 | UDF 46.55, LDF 37.64 | 79.53 |
The 1957 row shows that the CPI won the most seats with fewer votes than the Congress. The 1960 turnout of 85.72 per cent is the highest in the table (Wikipedia).
The last three elections
2016. Polling was on 16 May 2016 and results on 19 May. The LDF won 91 seats with 43.48 per cent and the UDF 47 seats with 38.81 per cent, on a turnout of 77.53 per cent (Wikipedia). The LDF government was sworn in on 25 May 2016. The BJP-led NDA won its first Assembly seat in the state in 2016, at Nemom (reported; our election-page summary did not state it). That seat was lost in 2021 and regained in 2026.
2021. The LDF won 99 of 140 seats with 45.43 per cent of the vote (about 1.056 crore votes). The UDF won 41 seats with 39.47 per cent (about 82 lakh votes), and the NDA won none, with 12.41 per cent. Wikipedia describes it as the first time since 1977 that a front won consecutive terms, and the first time a Chief Minister was returned after serving a full five-year term. By party, the CPI(M) won 62 seats, the CPI 17, the INC 22 and the IUML 15. This broke the alternation that had held at nine elections from 1980 to 2016.
2026. Polling was held on 9 April 2026 and counting on 4 May 2026. The UDF won 102 seats with 46.55 per cent of the vote (1,00,51,695 votes), the LDF 35 seats with 37.64 per cent (81,28,438 votes) and the NDA 3 seats. The INC won 63 seats with 28.79 per cent and the CPI(M) 26 seats with 21.77 per cent. Turnout was 79.53 per cent, up about 4 points on 2021 according to Wikipedia (the 2021 base figure is uncertain, as noted above). There were 2,71,42,952 electors: 1,32,20,811 men, 1,39,21,868 women and 273 transgender voters, about 2 per cent fewer than in the previous election. That is roughly 1,053 women for every 1,000 men on the rolls (our calculation). The BJP won three seats, at Nemom, Kazhakoottam and Chathannoor (reported by Onmanorama). The same report says the LDF won no seat in Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Wayanad or Malappuram districts, and that thirteen ministers of the outgoing government lost their seats. A new government was sworn in on 18 May 2026 (Wikipedia). We have not named the incumbent office-holders, in line with our policy. The result restored the alternation pattern: the front that held office changed after the 2026 poll.
The alternating pattern
The table shows that the government changed after every poll from 1982 to 2016 (1982 UDF, 1987 LDF, 1991 UDF, 1996 LDF, 2001 UDF, 2006 LDF, 2011 UDF, 2016 LDF). The 2021 election broke it and the 2026 result went back to it, so the government changed at eight of the nine polls from 1987 to 2026 (our count from the table). In seat terms the biggest wins are 102 for the UDF in 2026 and 99 for the UDF in 2001 and for the LDF in 2021; the closest result was 2011, when the UDF led by 72 to 68 (four seats).
The fronts
The LDF is led by the CPI(M) and includes the CPI and smaller parties; the UDF is led by the INC with the IUML as its largest ally, plus the RSP and Kerala Congress factions; the NDA is led by the BJP. The NDA's best Assembly results are 1 seat in 2016 and 3 seats in 2026.
Lok Sabha elections, 1999 to 2024
| Year | UDF | LDF | NDA | Vote share, UDF / LDF / NDA | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 46.9 / 43.7 / n/c (reported) | 70.19 |
| 2004 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 38.38 / 46.15 / 12.08 | n/c |
| 2009 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 47.73 / 41.89 / 6.31 | 73.38 |
| 2014 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 41.98 / 40.12 / 10.82 | 73.89 |
| 2019 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 47.48 / 35.29 / 15.64 | 77.84 |
| 2024 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 45.40 / 33.60 / 19.40 | 72.04 |
In 2004 one seat went outside the two fronts; we did not confirm which party held it. The INC was the largest single party at every one of these elections except 2004, when the CPI(M) was (12 seats; Wikipedia). The 2009 election was the first held after the delimitation based on the 2002 commission. The 2019 UDF result is credited in Wikipedia to factors including the Sabarimala protests and the Wayanad candidacy of a national leader; the narrative is the source's, not ours. In 2024 the BJP won the Thrissur seat, its first Lok Sabha win in Kerala; the electors then numbered 2,77,49,159. The UDF's 2024 vote share fell 2.08 points from 2019, while the NDA's rose 3.76 points.
By-elections
Wikipedia keeps a list of Assembly by-elections. The results we checked in a search are: Thrikkakara (2022) won by the UDF; Puthuppally (2023) retained by the UDF; Chelakkara (November 2024) retained by the LDF; Palakkad (November 2024) retained by the UDF; and Nilambur (19 June 2025), where the UDF took the seat from the LDF-backed incumbent by 11,077 votes.
Local body elections
Local body elections are run by the State Election Commission every five years. Both recent polls covered 1,199 of the 1,200 bodies (Wikipedia).
| Body (total) | 2020: LDF / UDF / NDA | 2025: LDF / UDF / NDA |
|---|---|---|
| Gram panchayats (941) | 514 / 321 / 19 | 340 / 505 / 26 |
| Block panchayats (152) | 108 / 38 / 0 | 63 / 79 / 0 |
| District panchayats (14) | 11 / 3 / 0 | 7 / 7 / 0 |
| Municipalities (87) | 43 / 41 / 2 | 28 / 54 / 2 |
| Corporations (6) | 5 / 1 / 0 | 1 / 4 / 1 |
Two sources disagreed on the 2025 columns. Wikipedia's overview table put the LDF figure first in each pair in the opposite way. We follow the Wikipedia 2025 local elections page as quoted in a news search and cross-checked against Deccan Herald and Onmanorama headlines saying the UDF swept corporations, municipalities and panchayats and that the BJP won the Thiruvananthapuram corporation; treat the 2025 row as reported. The 2020 poll was held on 8, 10 and 14 December with results on 16 December; vote shares were LDF 40.2, UDF 37.9 and NDA 15.0 per cent, and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation chose a 21-year-old mayor, the youngest of any municipal corporation in India (Wikipedia). The 2025 poll was held in two phases on 9 and 11 December with counting on 13 December. Turnout was 73.69 per cent, with shares of UDF 38.81, LDF 33.45 and NDA 14.71 per cent (reported). In the Thiruvananthapuram corporation of 101 wards the NDA won 50, the LDF 29 and the UDF 19 (reported). The next local elections are due in 2030.
Reservation and delimitation
Reservation of seats in the Assembly is by constitutional provision: 14 SC and 2 ST seats since the 2007 delimitation (earlier counts were 12 SC in 1956, 11 SC and 2 ST in 1961, and 13 SC and 1 ST from 1976; Wikipedia). Constituencies were increased from 114 in 1957 (some were two-member seats, giving 126 seats) to 133 in 1965 and 140 in 1977. Reservation for women in local bodies is 50 per cent of seats and offices (reported; we did not open the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act or confirm the year).
Firsts and records
- 1957: the world's first democratically elected communist government; the first state where a non-Congress government held office (Wikipedia).
- 1982: electronic voting machines were first used in India, at 50 booths in the Paravur constituency; the Supreme Court later ordered a fresh poll there because the law had no provision for the machines (Wikipedia).
- 2001: the last election before 2026 in which the Congress was the largest party in the Assembly (Wikipedia).
- 2016: the BJP's first Assembly seat; 2024: its first Lok Sabha seat.
- 2020: the youngest mayor of an Indian municipal corporation, in Thiruvananthapuram.
- 2026: the UDF's largest-ever tally, 102 seats.
For exam preparation
- The 1957 election gave the CPI 60 of 126 seats; its government took office on 5 April 1957.
- Government changed hands after every election from 1982 to 2016; 2021 broke the pattern and 2026 restored it.
- The LDF won 99 seats in 2021 and the UDF 102 in 2026.
- In 2024 the UDF won 18 Lok Sabha seats, the LDF 1 and the BJP 1 (Thrissur).
- Electronic voting machines were first used in India at Paravur in 1982.
- The State Election Commission ran local polls in December 2020 and December 2025.
Past Chief Ministers, Governors and office-holders
Only completed tenures are listed. The incumbent row for each office is left unnamed; see current affairs. Dates are from Wikipedia's lists.
Chief Ministers
| Chief Minister | Party | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| E. M. S. Namboodiripad | CPI | 5 Apr 1957 to 31 Jul 1959 |
| President's Rule | 31 Jul 1959 to 22 Feb 1960 | |
| Pattom A. Thanu Pillai | PSP | 22 Feb 1960 to 26 Sep 1962 |
| R. Sankar | INC | 26 Sep 1962 to 10 Sep 1964 |
| President's Rule | 10 Sep 1964 to 6 Mar 1967 | |
| E. M. S. Namboodiripad | CPI(M) | 6 Mar 1967 to 1 Nov 1969 |
| C. Achutha Menon | CPI | 1 Nov 1969 to 3 Aug 1970 |
| President's Rule | 4 Aug 1970 to 3 Oct 1970 | |
| C. Achutha Menon | CPI | 4 Oct 1970 to 25 Mar 1977 |
| K. Karunakaran | INC | 25 Mar 1977 to 27 Apr 1977 |
| A. K. Antony | INC | 27 Apr 1977 to 29 Oct 1978 |
| P. K. Vasudevan Nair | CPI | 29 Oct 1978 to 12 Oct 1979 |
| C. H. Mohammed Koya | IUML | 12 Oct 1979 to 4 Dec 1979 |
| President's Rule | 5 Dec 1979 to 25 Jan 1980 | |
| E. K. Nayanar | CPI(M) | 25 Jan 1980 to 20 Oct 1981 |
| President's Rule | 21 Oct 1981 to 28 Dec 1981 | |
| K. Karunakaran | INC | 28 Dec 1981 to 17 Mar 1982 |
| President's Rule | 17 Mar 1982 to 23 May 1982 | |
| K. Karunakaran | INC | 24 May 1982 to 26 Mar 1987 |
| E. K. Nayanar | CPI(M) | 26 Mar 1987 to 24 Jun 1991 |
| K. Karunakaran | INC | 24 Jun 1991 to 22 Mar 1995 |
| A. K. Antony | INC | 22 Mar 1995 to 20 May 1996 |
| E. K. Nayanar | CPI(M) | 20 May 1996 to 17 May 2001 |
| A. K. Antony | INC | 17 May 2001 to 31 Aug 2004 |
| Oommen Chandy | INC | 31 Aug 2004 to 18 May 2006 |
| V. S. Achuthanandan | CPI(M) | 18 May 2006 to 18 May 2011 |
| Oommen Chandy | INC | 18 May 2011 to 25 May 2016 |
| Pinarayi Vijayan | CPI(M) | 25 May 2016 to 19 May 2021; 20 May 2021 to 18 May 2026 |
| Incumbent | INC | From 18 May 2026 |
Completed full terms are those of E. K. Nayanar (1996 to 2001), V. S. Achuthanandan (2006 to 2011), Oommen Chandy (2011 to 2016) and Pinarayi Vijayan (two consecutive terms, 2016 to 2021 and 2021 to 2026). C. Achutha Menon's second spell ran 2,259 days (about six years and two months), longer than a normal term; the extension is reported to be related to the Emergency, which we did not confirm. K. Karunakaran held the office four times (1977, 1981 to 82, 1982 to 87, 1991 to 95), E. K. Nayanar three times, and A. K. Antony three times. By Wikipedia's count, E. K. Nayanar served 10 years and 353 days in all and Pinarayi Vijayan 9 years and 358 days.
President's Rule
The table lists six spells: 31 July 1959 to 22 February 1960 (206 days), 10 September 1964 to 6 March 1967 (913 days, which included the 1965 poll that produced no government), 4 August to 3 October 1970 (60 days), 5 December 1979 to 25 January 1980 (51 days), 21 October to 28 December 1981 (68 days) and 17 March to 23 May 1982 (67 days). Wikipedia counts seven instances in all; the extra one is probably the 1964 and 1965 proclamations counted separately, which we did not resolve. The 1959 dismissal under Article 356 of the first communist government is the best known and is described under Political history.
Governors
| Governor | Tenure |
|---|---|
| P. S. Rao (acting) | 1 to 21 Nov 1956 |
| Burgula Ramakrishna Rao | 22 Nov 1956 to 1 Jul 1960 |
| V. V. Giri | 1 Jul 1960 to 2 Apr 1965 |
| Ajit Prasad Jain | 2 Apr 1965 to 6 Feb 1966 |
| Bhagwan Sahay | 6 Feb 1966 to 15 May 1967 |
| V. Viswanathan | 15 May 1967 to 1 Apr 1973 |
| N. N. Wanchoo | 1 Apr 1973 to 10 Oct 1977 |
| Jothi Venkatachalam | 14 Oct 1977 to 27 Oct 1982 |
| P. Ramachandran | 27 Oct 1982 to 23 Feb 1988 |
| Ram Dulari Sinha | 23 Feb 1988 to 12 Feb 1990 |
| Sarup Singh | 12 Feb 1990 to 20 Dec 1990 |
| B. Rachaiah | 20 Dec 1990 to 15 Apr 1995; 1 May to 11 Nov 1995 |
| P. Shiv Shankar | 12 Nov 1995 to 4 May 1996 |
| Sukhdev Singh Kang | 25 Jan 1997 to 18 Apr 2002 |
| Sikander Bakht | 18 Apr 2002 to 23 Feb 2004 |
| R. L. Bhatia | 23 Jun 2004 to 10 Jul 2008 |
| R. S. Gavai | 11 Jul 2008 to 7 Sep 2011 |
| M. O. H. Farook | 8 Sep 2011 to 26 Jan 2012 |
| Nikhil Kumar | 23 Mar 2013 to 5 Mar 2014 |
| Sheila Dikshit | 5 Mar to 5 Sep 2014 |
| P. Sathasivam | 5 Sep 2014 to 5 Sep 2019 |
| Arif Mohammad Khan | 6 Sep 2019 to 2 Jan 2025 |
| Incumbent | From 2 Jan 2025 |
Short spells of acting or additional charge (1995, 1996 to 1997, 2004, 2012 to 2013) are left out of the table.
Speakers and Chief Justices
Wikipedia's list of Speakers is incomplete for the assemblies in which more than one person held the chair, and we could not confirm full tenure dates, so we give only the names it attributes to a whole Assembly: R. Sankara Narayanan Thampi (1st, from 1957), D. Damodaran Potti (listed against the 1967 to 1970 Assembly), Varkala Radhakrishnan (8th, 1987 to 1991), M. Vijayakumar (10th, 1996 to 2001), K. Radhakrishnan (12th, 2006 to 2011) and P. Sreeramakrishnan (14th, 2016 to 2021). For the Kerala High Court, K. T. Koshy is reported as the last Chief Justice of the Travancore-Cochin High Court and the first of Kerala; Antony Dominic held the post in 2018 for a few months (6 February to 30 May 2018, per a search result). We could not obtain a complete list of Chief Justices, so none is given here, and the incumbent is not named.
For exam preparation
- E. M. S. Namboodiripad was the first Chief Minister (1957) and headed the first communist ministry in the world to be elected.
- E. K. Nayanar served as Chief Minister three times and holds the longest total tenure in the list, 10 years and 353 days.
- Four Chief Ministers have completed full five-year terms in the modern period: Nayanar (1996 to 2001), Achuthanandan, Chandy and Vijayan (twice).
- The state has been under President's Rule in six spells listed in Wikipedia's table; the last ended on 23 May 1982.
- The first Governor of Kerala, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, took office on 22 November 1956.
- K. T. Koshy was the first Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court (reported).
Political history and movements
Kerala's politics grew out of social reform and the labour and peasant movements of the first half of the twentieth century; Part A covers that background. This section covers what happened after the state was formed on 1 November 1956.
The first communist government and the Liberation Struggle
The 1957 election made the CPI the largest party with 60 of 126 seats, and E. M. S. Namboodiripad took office on 5 April 1957 with the help of five independents, heading what is described as the first democratically elected communist government in the world. Two measures led to a long confrontation. The Education Bill of 1957 set rules for teacher recruitment and pay in aided schools, and many of those schools were run by church and community managements. The Agrarian Relations Bill of 1957 proposed protection for tenants and ownership ceilings (Wikipedia). Syrian Christian churches, the Nair Service Society, the Muslim League and the Congress and Socialist parties joined in what became known as the Vimochana Samaram or Liberation Struggle. On 13 June 1959 police firing at Angamaly killed seven people and the agitation spread. Following a visit by the Prime Minister, the government was dismissed on 31 July 1959 under Article 356, and President's Rule began. Wikipedia describes the dismissal as controversial. The 1960 election returned a Congress-led coalition, and the later governments amended the two bills.
Splits, coalitions and the land reforms
The 1964 splits in the Congress and in the CPI changed the party system: Kerala Congress and the CPI(M) emerged as separate parties in that period (reported, not confirmed in the sources we opened). The 1965 election produced no government and the Assembly never met. In 1967 a seven-party United Front under the CPI(M) won, and its cabinet was the first to include Muslim League ministers (Wikipedia). The CPI-led government of 1969 to 1977 under C. Achutha Menon passed the Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969, which came into force on 1 January 1970. It made leasing of land unlawful, gave tenants ownership, set land ceilings and passed surplus land to the landless; it is credited with ending the old landlord (jenmi) system (reported in news summaries; we did not open the Act). Whether to credit the CPI or the CPI(M) with the reform is a point of political dispute, and we take no side. The 1963 Act and the 1957 bill were its predecessors.
The two-front era
After the 1979 breakup of the United Front the state settled into two stable fronts, the LDF and the UDF, from the 1980 election. Governments were fragile in the early 1980s: the LDF ministry fell in October 1981 when three groups withdrew support, and President's Rule and a mid-term poll in 1982 followed. After 1987 the five-year alternation described under Elections became the rule.
The Kerala model, literacy and decentralisation
The phrase Kerala model refers to high levels of health and education outcomes with a lower income than some other states, together with wealth-redistribution programmes and strong political participation. Wikipedia credits three factors: decentralisation, the mobilisation of poorer groups, and civil society in planning. It records literacy rising from 47 per cent in 1951 to 94.6 per cent in 2011, a life expectancy of 77 years and an infant mortality rate of 7 per 1,000 as of the latest figures it cites, and the top rank among major states on the Human Development Index (0.758 in 2022); these are Wikipedia's figures and they should be checked against Census and NITI sources before use. Kerala is widely reported to have been declared fully literate in April 1991, after the first fully literate district, Ernakulam, in 1990; we did not confirm the dates. The People's Plan Campaign for decentralised planning was launched in 1996 and Kudumbashree, the women's self-help network, in 1998 (both reported, unconfirmed). Challenges named in the same source are rising inequality, limited jobs that drive emigration and gender gaps.
Recent developments
In 2018 the Supreme Court's Sabarimala judgment led to protests that Wikipedia lists among the factors in the 2019 Lok Sabha result. In 2020 the LDF won the local body elections, and in 2021 it became the first front since 1977 to win consecutive terms. In December 2025 the UDF won the local body elections and the BJP-led NDA won the Thiruvananthapuram corporation, its first corporation in the state, a result that Deccan Herald headlined as taking the capital from the Left. In April and May 2026 the UDF won 102 seats. We have not described incumbent governments' policies.
For exam preparation
- The government of 1957 was dismissed on 31 July 1959 under Article 356, after the Liberation Struggle.
- The police firing at Angamaly on 13 June 1959 killed seven people.
- The Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 1969 came into force on 1 January 1970 under the Achutha Menon government.
- The 1967 United Front cabinet was the first in the state to include Muslim League ministers.
- Literacy was 94.6 per cent in the Census 2011 figure cited by Wikipedia.
- The LDF and UDF have been the two main fronts since 1980.
Budget and governance
Kerala has two sets of 2026-27 budget numbers, because the state changed governments in May 2026. The outgoing government presented the original budget on 29 January 2026 (per CPPR's analysis of the budget, found in a search). The new government presented a revised budget for 2026-27 in the Assembly on 19 June 2026 (Onmanorama and the PRS analysis, which we opened). The figures below are as on October 2026 and are budget estimates; check the finance department for later changes.
| Item | Original (29 Jan 2026) | Revised (19 Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| GSDP (projected) | n/c | Rs 16,29,073 crore, up 14 per cent over 2025-26 |
| Total expenditure (excluding debt repayment) | Rs 2,39,907 crore, up 25 per cent on the 2025-26 revised estimate | Rs 2,27,567 crore, up 18 per cent |
| Receipts (excluding borrowings) | Rs 1,84,488 crore, up 33 per cent | Revenue receipts Rs 1,69,646 crore, up 24 per cent |
| Net borrowings | n/c | Rs 52,364 crore |
| Revenue deficit | 2.12 per cent of GSDP (Rs 34,587 crore) | 2.2 per cent of GSDP (Rs 35,355 crore) |
| Fiscal deficit | 3.5 per cent of GSDP (Rs 56,405 crore) | 3.5 per cent of GSDP (Rs 56,405 crore) |
| Outstanding debt | n/c | about 34 per cent of GSDP at end of 2026-27 |
Headline allocations in the revised budget, per PRS, were education Rs 30,525 crore, social welfare Rs 19,605 crore and rural development (NREGS) Rs 6,757 crore, with capital outlay on roads and transport of Rs 3,697 crore. Policy items reported by Onmanorama and other outlets include health insurance cover of up to Rs 25 lakh per family, a Rs 400 crore Mission Samudra for ports, coastal and inland waterway transport, free bus travel for women on state-run buses, a green hydrogen hub, light metro proposals for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, and a new medical college at Haripad. The same reports cite an outstanding debt of Rs 5.07 lakh crore and a revenue shortfall of Rs 20,500 crore, and say salaries, pensions and interest take 77 per cent of revenue receipts. PRS notes that actual revenue receipts have fallen short of budget estimates every year since 2015-16, and that the 2025-26 fiscal deficit was revised up from 3.2 to 3.8 per cent of GSDP. The ministers who presented the two budgets are not named here, in line with our policy. We do not know whether the two budgets have been merged in the Appropriation Acts, and we have not checked.
On governance, we verified the structure of the Lokayukta and the State Election Commission (described above) and the 1,200-body local government system. We could not verify launch dates or coverage for the state's e-governance portals, the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board or the citizen-service schemes, so they are not described here; check the state portal. Local bodies run under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and the Kerala Municipality Act; the local polls of 2020 and 2025 are covered under Elections.
For exam preparation
- The original 2026-27 budget was presented on 29 January 2026; a revised budget followed on 19 June 2026 after the change of government.
- The revised budget projects GSDP at Rs 16,29,073 crore and a fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent of GSDP (PRS).
- Total expenditure excluding debt repayment is Rs 2,27,567 crore in the revised budget.
- The revised budget promises health insurance cover up to Rs 25 lakh per family.
- Mission Samudra has an allocation of Rs 400 crore.
Economy
Kerala is a small state by area with one of the highest levels of human development in India, and its economy has an unusual shape: services produce about two-thirds of output, money sent home by Keralites working abroad is a very large part of household income, and the state spends heavily on health and education. As on October 2026, Kerala's gross state domestic product (GSDP) for 2024-25 is reported at about ₹13.11 lakh crore, which makes it the eleventh largest state economy in India. Per capita income is among the highest of the larger states. The state is also tightly squeezed on public finance, because borrowing limits, committed spending on salaries and pensions, and a heavy debt burden leave little room.
Size, growth and income
| Indicator | Value | Source / note |
|---|---|---|
| GSDP, current prices, 2024-25 | About ₹13.11 lakh crore | Reference page, reported; ranks 11th among states |
| GSDP, current prices, 2026-27 (budget projection) | ₹16,29,073 crore, growth 14% over 2025-26 | PRS Legislative Research analysis of the 2026-27 budget |
| Per capita GSDP, 2024-25 | ₹3,46,437, up 9.4% | PRS analysis |
| Per capita income, 2024-25 | About ₹3,72,783 | Reference page, reported; described as sixth highest among states |
| Gross value added by sector, 2021-22 | Services 66%, industry 23%, agriculture 12% | Reference page, reported; older data |
| Multidimensional poverty | About 0.55% of people | Reference page, reported; the lowest in India |
| Human Development Index | 0.860 (one account) and 0.804 (another) | Sources differ; see the note below |
"Current prices" means the value in that year's rupees, so part of any rise is inflation. "Per capita income" divides the state's income by its population. It is an average and says nothing about how evenly income is spread. Per capita GSDP and per capita income are slightly different measures, which is why the two figures above do not match. The Human Development Index (HDI) figures also differ between pages because they come from different calculations and years; the safe statement for an exam is that Kerala has long been first or second among Indian states on HDI.
What drives the economy
- Services. Trade, transport, tourism, banking, real estate, health and education services dominate. The service sector's two-thirds share is a result of the state's early investment in schools and hospitals, a large pool of skilled workers, and money coming in from abroad.
- Remittances. The Kerala Migration Survey 2023, prepared by the International Institute of Migration and Development with the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, estimated remittances at ₹2,16,893 crore for 2023, up from ₹85,092 crore in 2018. It estimated about 2.2 million emigrants, against 2.1 million in 2018. A reference page expresses the 2023-24 remittance as about 23.2% of GSDP and second only to Maharashtra among states in absolute terms; we did not check that ratio..
- Tourism. A reference page says tourism contributes nearly 10% of state output. The figure is reported, not checked; the section on tourism below gives arrival numbers.
- Information technology. Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram and Infopark in Kochi are the two main IT parks. Their numbers are in the next section.
- Shipbuilding and port services. Cochin Shipyard and the container and bunkering facilities at Kochi, and now the Vizhinjam seaport, are the main industrial anchors of the coast.
Public finances
The 2026-27 state budget was presented on 19 June 2026, after the state's new government took office following the 2026 Assembly election. The figures below are PRS Legislative Research's analysis of the budget documents.
| Item (2026-27 budget estimate) | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue deficit | ₹35,355 crore (2.2% of GSDP) |
| Fiscal deficit | ₹56,405 crore (3.5% of GSDP) |
| Outstanding liabilities | About 34% of GSDP at the end of 2026-27 |
| Own tax revenue | ₹99,002 crore (6.1% of GSDP) |
| State GST | ₹39,901 crore |
| Devolution from the Centre (share in central taxes) | ₹37,355 crore |
| Education / social welfare / health | ₹30,525 crore / ₹19,605 crore / ₹12,078 crore |
| Transport / rural development (including MGNREGS) | ₹7,527 crore / ₹6,757 crore |
Revenue deficit is the gap between day-to-day income and spending; fiscal deficit is the gap between total spending and income that does not create debt. States ordinarily work toward a fiscal deficit near 3% of GSDP; we did not open the state law or Finance Commission papers, so the exact current limit is not stated. At 3.5% and a debt ratio near 34%, Kerala is above the usual comfort level, and borrowing limits have been a point of dispute with the Centre (reported; no primary document opened).
An unusual part of Kerala's financing is the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). It is a statutory body created on 11 November 1999 under the Finance Department to raise money for infrastructure from outside the regular budget. In May 2019 it became the first sub-sovereign body in India to raise money in the offshore rupee bond market, with a masala bond of about US$312 million, according to a reference page. The same account says it set a target of ₹50,000 crore over five years from 2016-17 and has approved 821 projects worth ₹60,102.51 crore; this is a reported total as on an unspecified date. KIIFB debt is a topic of public debate because of whether it should count as state borrowing, and we do not take a side.
For exam preparation
- Kerala's GSDP for 2024-25 is reported at about ₹13.11 lakh crore, eleventh among states.
- The 2026-27 budget projects GSDP at ₹16.29 lakh crore, a fiscal deficit of 3.5% of GSDP and liabilities near 34% of GSDP (PRS).
- The services sector accounts for roughly two-thirds of value added; agriculture about one-eighth (2021-22, reported).
- Kerala Migration Survey 2023 estimated remittances at about ₹2.17 lakh crore and about 22 lakh emigrants.
- KIIFB, set up in 1999, issued India's first sub-sovereign masala bond in May 2019.
- The multidimensional poverty rate is reported as about 0.55%, the lowest among states.
Agriculture, forests, minerals, industry and energy
Kerala's farming is about plantations and spices, not grain. The state grows most of India's natural rubber and black pepper and cardamom in the Western Ghats hills, and coconut and paddy in the lowlands, while importing much of the rice and vegetables it eats. More than half its land is under forest, the state has one of the longest chains of mud-bank and backwater fisheries in the country, and it has been a pioneer in public sector heavy industry (the shipyard) and in IT parks. Mineral wealth is modest but includes valuable beach sands.
Crops
A reference page on Kerala agriculture and a second source on the state economy give the following national shares. They are widely repeated figures that we found on reference pages, not a single official table, so they are marked as reported.
| Crop | Reported position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Black pepper | About 97% of India's output | Reported; the "king of spices" |
| Natural rubber | About 85% of India's rubber area | Reported; Kottayam is the processing centre |
| Cardamom | About 90% of India's cardamom | Reported; the Idukki hills dominate |
| Coffee | About 20% of India's coffee | Reported; mostly the Wayanad robusta belt |
| Coconut | About 7.9 lakh hectares, about 5,873 million nuts | One reference page; year not stated, so treat as indicative |
| Rubber | About 5.51 lakh hectares, about 4.39 lakh tonnes | Same page; year not stated |
| Coir | About 60% of the world's white coir fibre | Reported; Alappuzha is the traditional centre |
| Cashew | Kollam is the centre of kernel processing | One page says 80% of India's export-quality kernels are prepared there; reported, not verified |
We did not find a verified national share for tea or for coconut. Kerala is in the top group for coconut area in India, with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and is a modest tea producer next to Assam and West Bengal, but we do not state a percentage. Tea estates are concentrated around Munnar in Idukki and in Wayanad.
Rice has fallen sharply. A reference page reports that production dropped from over 10 lakh tonnes in 1960-61 to about 5.08 lakh tonnes in 2012-13, as land shifted to cash crops and house plots. Two paddy regions stand out. Kuttanad in Alappuzha is called the rice bowl of the state and farms land 1.2 to 3 metres below sea level; the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognised the Kuttanad farming system as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2013, as reported on a reference page. Palakkad is called the granary of Kerala. Kottayam is the rubber district.
Forests and wildlife
The India State of Forest Report 2023 gives Kerala's forest cover as 21,253 sq km, which is 54.70% of the state's geographical area of 38,852 sq km, an increase of 109 sq km over the 2019 assessment (as reported in a summary of the report, not the report itself). A further 7.48% is tree cover, according to the same summary. Forests are in the Western Ghats, which a reference page describes as a biodiversity hotspot with nearly 30% of India's flora and fauna species. In 2012 UNESCO inscribed 39 sites in seven clusters of the Western Ghats as a World Heritage Site; several of them are in Kerala, including the Silent Valley and Periyar areas. Eravikulam, Periyar and Silent Valley are described in the tourism section.
Fishing
Kerala has a coastline of about 590 to 595 km and about 4 lakh hectares of inland water. A reference page puts the number of active fishermen at about 2.2 lakh and says fisheries contribute about 3% of the state economy. In 2006 the state reportedly caught about 22% of India's marine fish; that figure is old and we could not find a current share. A natural feature called chakara, a mud bank that forms along the shore in the monsoon and calms the water, supports fishing in the rainy season.
Minerals
We did not open a primary source on mineral output. From general knowledge, the coastal belt holds beach sand with ilmenite, rutile and zircon, plus clay and silica sand; no production figures are given.
Industry
- Cochin Shipyard Limited. It was set up as a government company on 29 April 1972 and is India's largest shipbuilding and maintenance facility, as reported on its reference page. Its first phase of facilities began in 1982. It built INS Vikrant, India's first indigenously built aircraft carrier, which was commissioned on 2 September 2022. A 310-metre dry dock became operational in January 2024. The company listed on the BSE and NSE in August 2017 after an initial public offering, and the Government of India owns it. Two pages disagree on the size of the largest vessel it can build (one says 1,100,000 tonnes deadweight and another 1,10,000); we take the lower figure as more plausible and mark it reported.
- Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram. It was conceived in 1990 and dedicated to the nation in November 1995. A reference page describes it as having over 490 companies, more than 75,000 professionals and 12.72 million sq ft of built-up space, and calls it the largest IT park in Asia by area. These figures are from a page that quotes older data (it mentions 2016-17 exports of ₹5,000 crore), so they are likely to have grown. Phase IV, called Technocity, is a mixed-use township on about 500 acres.
Energy
Kerala depends mostly on hydroelectric power from its own rivers and buys the rest of its electricity from outside the state. We did not verify the state's total installed capacity or the share it imports, so no numbers are given.
The best known project is the Idukki hydroelectric scheme on the Periyar. Idukki Dam is a double-curvature thin arch dam of concrete, 168.91 metres high and described as one of the highest arch dams in Asia. Power generation began on 4 October 1975 and the project was commissioned in 1976. The underground power station at Moolamattom has six Pelton turbines of 130 MW each, a total of 780 MW. The scheme was built with Canadian help and inaugurated by the Prime Minister of the time, Indira Gandhi. Solar power has a symbolic role. In 2015 Cochin International Airport became the world's first fully solar-powered airport with a 15 MW photovoltaic plant, and the airport received the United Nations Champions of the Earth award in 2018 (reference page).
For exam preparation
- Kerala is reported to produce about 97% of India's pepper and about 85% of the area under natural rubber.
- Kuttanad farms below sea level and was recognised by FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2013 (reported).
- ISFR 2023 puts forest cover at 54.70% of the state's area, 21,253 sq km.
- Cochin Shipyard built INS Vikrant, commissioned on 2 September 2022.
- Idukki arch dam on the Periyar is 168.91 m high; its station has 780 MW capacity.
- Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram was dedicated to the nation in November 1995.
Transport and infrastructure
Kerala is long and narrow, with rail and road running north to south, a belt of backwaters that once served as the main inland route, and four international airports. Its infrastructure story combines old waterways, the pioneering Cochin airport, new city transport in Kochi, and a deep-water port at Vizhinjam.
Rail and roads
Kerala falls under Southern Railway. Its rail network is run from the Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions, a point we state from general knowledge and did not verify here. The Vande Bharat Express serves the state: the Kasaragod–Thiruvananthapuram service began on 25 April 2023, covering 586 km in about 8 hours 10 minutes with 20 coaches, and other services link Kerala with Mangaluru and with Bengaluru (Bengaluru to Ernakulam, 625 km, 16 coaches), according to a reference page that lists services. Timetables change often, so check the railway for current services.
The state has a long coastline highway, National Highway 66, running from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram. A widening project is reported to be under way, but we did not verify its progress, length or completion, so no figure is given.
Airports
| Airport | Place | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Thiruvananthapuram International | Thiruvananthapuram | Established 1932, Kerala's first airport; international status from 1 January 1991; operated by the Adani Group under a 50-year concession signed in 2020; about 4.8 million passengers in 2024-25; also hosts the Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force |
| Cochin International (CIAL) | Nedumbassery, Ernakulam | Opened 25 May 1999; India's first airport built under a public-private partnership model, with the state government holding 33.36% and more than 10,000 investors, mostly non-resident Indians, holding the rest; over 11 million passengers in 2025-26; about 63% of the state's air traffic |
| Calicut International | Karipur, Malappuram | Opened 13 April 1988; international status from 2 February 2006; table-top runway; Air India Express flight 1344 overran the runway and crashed on 7 August 2020, killing 21 people; about 3.86 million passengers in April 2025 to March 2026 |
| Kannur International | Mattanur, Kannur | Commercial operations began 9 December 2018; owned by a public-private company in which the state holds 32.86%; 3,050 m runway; about 1.5 million passengers in 2025; lacks "point of call" status for foreign carriers |
"Point of call" status is the permission for foreign airlines to fly from an airport; without it only Indian carriers fly abroad from there.
Ports and waterways
Vizhinjam International Seaport. Vizhinjam, near Thiruvananthapuram, is India's first dedicated deep-water container transshipment port, a point we take from its reference page. The Prime Minister inaugurated it on 2 May 2025. It is run by the Adani Group under a 40-year concession with the state government, with a possible 20-year extension, and has a natural depth of about 24 metres. The first general cargo ship arrived on 12 October 2023 and the first container ship, San Fernando, on 11 July 2024. Phase one cost about ₹8,867 crore and is designed for about one million containers (twenty-foot equivalent units, TEU) a year; later phases are planned to take total capacity to about 6.2 million TEU at a further cost of about ₹20,000 crore. The page says phase two is under development; we did not verify the current construction status. Transshipment means moving containers from ocean ships to feeder ships at a hub.
Backwaters and inland waterways. A reference page says about eight percent of India's waterways are in Kerala and describes the backwaters as a network of about 900 km of interconnected lagoons, lakes and canals, with a West Coast Canal for cargo movement.
Urban transport in Kochi
Kochi Metro. Services began on 17 June 2017 between Aluva and Palarivattom (13.4 km, 11 stations). The first phase of 28.125 km and 25 stations was complete by March 2024, according to a reference page. It is described as the first metro in the world managed entirely by women in its operations, and it employs members of Kudumbashree and the transgender community. A second phase to Infopark (11.2 km) was under construction. Annual ridership was about 3.65 crore in 2025 (reported).
Kochi Water Metro. It was inaugurated on 26 April 2023. A reference page says it runs six routes across about 28 km, uses 23 electric hybrid boats and had carried over 6.5 million passengers by April 2026. The state government owns 74% of the operating company and Kochi Metro Rail Limited 26%. It is described as Asia's first integrated water transport system.
For exam preparation
- Cochin International Airport opened on 25 May 1999 and was the first in India under a public-private partnership; in 2015 it became fully solar-powered.
- Thiruvananthapuram airport, established 1932, is the oldest in the state and is run by Adani since the 2020 concession.
- Kozhikode's Calicut airport has a table-top runway; the 7 August 2020 crash killed 21.
- Kerala's first Vande Bharat service (Kasaragod–Thiruvananthapuram) began on 25 April 2023.
- Kochi Metro opened on 17 June 2017; Kochi Water Metro opened on 26 April 2023.
- Vizhinjam seaport was inaugurated on 2 May 2025; its natural depth is about 24 m.
Culture, tribes and heritage
Kerala's culture is shaped by its position between mountains and sea, its old trade with the Arabian world, Greece and Rome and China, and the mingling of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities. Malayalam is the state language and a classical language. The state has some of the oldest living performance traditions in India, a rich temple and festival calendar, and a literature in which modern writers have won the country's highest literary award six times. This section covers language and literature, performing arts, rituals and festivals, food, crafts and the tribal communities.
Language and literature
Malayalam is the official language of Kerala and was designated a classical language of India in 2013 (reference page). It belongs to the Dravidian family. Its modern literature developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the state's high literacy gave it a very large reading public.
Malayalam writers have won the Jnanpith Award six times. A reference list gives the winners as follows.
| Year | Writer | Work or note |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | G. Sankara Kurup | Odakkuzhal (The Bamboo Flute); the first Jnanpith Award in India |
| 1980 | S. K. Pottekkatt | Oru Desathinte Katha |
| 1984 | Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai | Lifetime contribution |
| 1995 | M. T. Vasudevan Nair | Lifetime contribution |
| 2007 | O. N. V. Kurup | Lifetime contribution |
| 2019 | Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri | Lifetime contribution |
The 1965 award being the first Jnanpith Award ever given is a well-known fact that we state from general knowledge and did not check on the page we opened. Other names often asked about include Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, a short-story writer and novelist whose international recognition a reference page notes, and the novelist Arundhati Roy, who won the Booker Prize. Medieval and early modern writers such as Ezhuthachan, regarded as the father of the Malayalam language in modern times, and Cherusseri are standard names in exam lists; these are from general knowledge.
Performing arts
- Kathakali. A dance-drama about 500 years old that tells stories from the epics through elaborate face painting, huge costumes, gesture language (mudras) and singing. The actors do not speak. Performances traditionally run through the night.
- Mohiniyattam. A graceful classical dance performed by women, with slow swaying movements. It is one of the eight classical dances recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, which we mention from general knowledge.
- Koodiyattam. A Sanskrit theatre tradition that combines Sanskrit drama with elements of the older Tamil koothu tradition. It was proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001 and inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, according to a search summary of several sources. It is traditionally performed by the Chakyar community and by Nangiar women, and a single performance can run from about 12 to 150 hours over several nights. In 1955 Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar performed it outside the temple for the first time, as a reference page notes.
- Theyyam. A ritual art from northern Kerala, in which a performer in elaborate costume is believed to become the deity. The season is roughly October to May, according to a reference page.
- Kalaripayattu. The martial art of the region; the name comes from words meaning "place" and "exercise".
- Other forms. Thullal, Krishnanattam and Chavittunatakam are performance forms we know from general knowledge and did not verify here. Percussion ensembles called melam, such as the Panchavadyam and Chenda melam, play at temple festivals.
Festivals
| Festival | When and where | What it marks |
|---|---|---|
| Onam | Malayalam month of Chingam (August to September); statewide | The state harvest festival, associated with King Mahabali and the Vamana avatar; the feast is called the Onam Sadhya, served on banana leaf |
| Vishu | Malayalam month of Medam (April); statewide | New-year festival; the first thing seen on the day, the Vishukkani, is arranged to bring good fortune (general knowledge, not source-checked) |
| Thrissur Pooram | Pooram day in Medam (April to May); Vadakkunnathan temple, Thrissur | Founded by Sakthan Thampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin, in 1796; two groups, Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi, compete with decorated elephants, the Kudamattam parasol display and the Ilanjithara melam; nine temples take part |
| Nehru Trophy Boat Race | Second Saturday of August; Punnamada Lake, Alappuzha | A snake-boat race (vallam kali), described below |
| Sabarimala season | Mandala and Makaravilakku season, about November to January; Pathanamthitta | Pilgrimage to the Ayyappa temple |
| Kochi-Muziris Biennale | Held every two years in Kochi | Described on a reference page as Asia's largest contemporary art festival |
The Thrissur Pooram story is that in 1796 the temples were turned back from the Arattupuzha Pooram because of rain delays, and Sakthan Thampuran created a bigger festival of his own in response (reference page). It draws over a million visitors a year according to the same page.
The Nehru Trophy Boat Race began after the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Alappuzha on 22 December 1952. Local people held an impromptu race of snake boats in his honour, and after the Nadubhagam Chundan won, he travelled on the winning boat. He later sent a trophy; the first formal race for it was held in 1954 at Kainakary before moving to the Punnamada Lake. Chundan vallams are snake boats of over 100 feet, with large crews of paddlers, racing over about 1.4 to 1.5 km. Karichal Chundan holds the record of 16 wins (reference page).
Food
Kerala's cuisine uses coconut, rice, tapioca, fish, spices and banana leaf. The Onam Sadhya is the best-known meal. Other well-known dishes such as appam with stew, puttu with kadala curry and Malabar biryani are general knowledge and not verified here. Seafood is central along the coast, and the spice trade from Muziris and Malabar is the long background to the cuisine.
Crafts, painting and architecture
Kerala mural painting is the characteristic temple art, using vegetable and mineral colours on walls (reference page). Handicrafts include coir products, bell-metal ware, woodcarving and the Aranmula mirror. Of these only the mural painting is confirmed by a page we opened; the rest are general knowledge. We did not verify the full list of Kerala's Geographical Indication (GI) tags, so none is listed. Traditional temple architecture in the state uses sloping tiled roofs and wood, and the Padmanabhaswamy Temple combines Kerala and Tamil styles, with a 100-foot seven-tier gopuram in Pandya style.
Tribes
Census 2011 counted 4,84,839 Scheduled Tribe people in Kerala, about 1.5% of the population, as per a search summary of census-based sources. Wayanad district has the largest tribal population at about 1,51,443, or about 18.5% of the district, per the same summary. The main communities named in that summary and on a reference page are the Paniyan, Irula (Irular), Kattunayakan, Adiyan, Kurichiyan and Kuruman (Kurumba); all are on the official Scheduled Tribe list.
| Community | Where they are mainly found | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Paniyan | Wayanad and neighbouring districts | One of the larger tribal communities (reported) |
| Kurichiyan | Wayanad | Known for archery and farming (general knowledge) |
| Irula | Attappadi in Palakkad | Reported as a major community |
| Kattunayakan | Wayanad and Malappuram forests | Forest-based livelihoods (reported) |
We did not verify population counts for individual tribes or the list of particularly vulnerable tribal groups, so numbers are not given.
For exam preparation
- Malayalam was given classical language status in 2013.
- Malayalam has six Jnanpith winners, beginning with G. Sankara Kurup in 1965 and most recently Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri in 2019.
- Koodiyattam was proclaimed a UNESCO Masterpiece in 2001 and inscribed on the Representative List in 2008.
- Thrissur Pooram was started by Sakthan Thampuran in 1796.
- The Nehru Trophy Boat Race is held on Punnamada Lake, Alappuzha, on the second Saturday of August.
- Census 2011 puts Scheduled Tribes at about 1.5% of the population, with Wayanad having the largest number.
Tourism and places of interest
Kerala sells itself as a place of backwaters, hills, beaches, wildlife, temples and Ayurveda. A reference page reports 2.19 crore visitors in 2023, of whom about 2.12 crore were domestic and 6,49,057 foreign, against about 1.96 crore in 2019 before the pandemic. The leading foreign source markets in 2019 were the United Kingdom (186,085), the United States (109,859) and France (97,894). The same page notes that the New York Times listed Kerala in 2023 as the only Indian destination on its list of places to visit, and that National Geographic Traveler once called it one of the ten paradises of the world; these are reported. The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) was founded in 1966.
Key sites
| Place | District | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Alappuzha and Kuttanad backwaters | Alappuzha | The backwater system spans about 900 km; Vembanad Lake, about 2,033 sq km, is the longest lake in India; more than 2,000 houseboats (kettuvallam), once grain barges, now serve tourists (reported) |
| Munnar | Idukki | Hill station at about 1,600 m among tea estates; the Neelakurinji flower blooms once in about twelve years; Eravikulam is nearby, home to the Nilgiri tahr; about 130 km from Kochi |
| Periyar National Park, Thekkady | Idukki and Pathanamthitta | 925 sq km tiger reserve; Project Tiger reserve since 1978; core declared a national park in 1982; Periyar Lake is about 31 sq km, created in 1895 by the Mullaperiyar dam |
| Silent Valley National Park | Palakkad (with Malappuram) | Core area 89.52 sq km; established 26 December 1984 after the Save Silent Valley campaign stopped a hydroelectric dam; known for lion-tailed macaques |
| Sabarimala | Pathanamthitta | Hill at about 1,260 m in the Periyar area; the Sree Dharmasastha (Ayyappa) temple and Malikappuram temple; the name is linked to the ascetic Shabari |
| Padmanabhaswamy Temple | Thiruvananthapuram | Vishnu in reclining posture; one of the 108 Divya Desams; Marthanda Varma gave Travancore to the deity on 17 January 1750; since July 2020 an administrative committee appointed by the Supreme Court runs its secular affairs |
| Guruvayur Temple | Thrissur | Krishna as Guruvayurappan; the Guruvayur Satyagraha ran from 1931 to 1947, and the temple opened to all Hindus on 2 June 1947; the Punnathurkotta elephant sanctuary is nearby |
| Kovalam, Varkala and Muzhappilangad | Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur | Beaches; Muzhappilangad is a drive-in beach (reported) |
| Fort Kochi and Mattancherry | Ernakulam | Colonial and Jewish heritage, Chinese fishing nets, and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale venues |
| Wayanad | Wayanad | Hills, wildlife and tribal heritage |
Protected and international sites
- Western Ghats (UNESCO). Inscribed in 2012: 39 sites in seven clusters across six states, with Anamudi (2,695 m) the highest peak in South India. A reference page describes the range as 1,600 km long. The Palakkad (Palghat) Gap, the widest break in the Ghats, lies in Kerala.
- Ramsar sites. Three Kerala wetlands are listed on a reference page as Ramsar sites: Ashtamudi Lake, Sasthamkotta Lake and the Vembanad-Kol wetland.
- Heritage farming. Kuttanad (FAO, 2013).
- Intangible heritage. Koodiyattam (UNESCO).
We did not verify the count of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries or any ASI-protected monument list for Kerala, so no totals are given.
For exam preparation
- Kerala received about 2.19 crore visitors in 2023 (reported).
- Vembanad is the longest lake in India; Ashtamudi, Sasthamkotta and Vembanad-Kol are Ramsar wetlands.
- Silent Valley National Park was established on 26 December 1984.
- Periyar became a tiger reserve in 1978 and a national park core in 1982.
- Anamudi at 2,695 m is the highest peak in South India.
- The Guruvayur temple opened to all Hindus on 2 June 1947.
Education, health, sports and personalities
Kerala is the benchmark for the "Kerala model" of development: high literacy, low infant mortality, long life expectancy and a large public health network, achieved at modest income levels compared with industrial states. The state's history of social reform and early public schooling, and the strong role of missionaries, princely states and community organisations, are the usual explanations. The same model now faces new problems, including an ageing population, high costs of private health care and graduates who struggle to find skilled work at home.
Literacy and schooling
Census 2011 recorded Kerala's literacy rate at 93.9%, against 74.0% for India. A reference page gives a later figure of 95.3% for the state, but its source and year are unclear, so we use the census figure for exam work. In 1991 Kerala was declared the first fully literate state in India, although the effective literacy rate was about 90% at that time (reference page). In January 2016 it became the first state to achieve 100% primary education through the Athulyam programme, as reported on the same page. CMS College, Kottayam, established in 1815, is recorded as the first college in India of the Western educational model. The sex ratio is reported as 1,084 females per 1,000 males (Census 2011 is the standard source; the page we opened does not label the year).
Universities and institutes
| Institution | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|
| University of Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Established 1937 |
| Mahatma Gandhi University | Kottayam | State university |
| University of Calicut | Malappuram | State university |
| Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) | Kochi | Science and technology university |
| Kannur University | Kannur | State university |
| APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University | Thiruvananthapuram | State technical university |
| IIT Palakkad | Palakkad | The only IIT in Kerala |
| IIM Kozhikode | Kozhikode | Indian Institute of Management |
| NIT Calicut | Kozhikode | National Institute of Technology |
| IISER Thiruvananthapuram | Thiruvananthapuram | Indian Institute of Science Education and Research |
A reference page says Kerala topped the Education Development Index among 21 major states in 2006-07. We did not verify the current rankings of any institution in the NIRF list, so none is quoted. The state's other well-known bodies, such as the Kerala Kalamandalam (arts school founded by the poet Vallathol in 1930, from general knowledge), are listed in exam books but were not confirmed from a page we opened.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kerala
Kerala does not yet have an AIIMS. As on October 2026, news reports say the proposal, long requested by the state, remains pending with the Centre: in 2024 the state transferred about 151.58 acres at Kinaloor in Kozhikode district for the project, and the Kerala High Court in February 2026 asked the Centre to carry out a feasibility study there. After the change of government in May 2026 the state forwarded ten site proposals to the Union Health Ministry. We could not confirm any sanction, so treat this as pending and check the latest news.
Health
Kerala has the lowest infant mortality in India. NFHS-5 (2019-21) put the state's infant mortality rate at 4.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 5.6 in NFHS-4, and the latest Sample Registration System report is reported to show about 5 per 1,000 against a national figure of about 25 (search summaries; the national figure is year-dependent). A reference page gives life expectancy at 77.3 years. The Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP), described in the schemes section, is the state's main health insurance. We did not verify maternal mortality, doctor numbers or the number of medical colleges, so they are left out. The state has been in the news for outbreaks of the Nipah virus, but we did not verify dates and counts and do not list them.
Sports
- Football is the most popular sport, brought by British officers; seven-a-side tournaments are popular in the Malabar region from about November to May (reference page). Kerala Blasters play in the Indian Super League.
- Cricket. Thalassery has a long cricket history, with the Tellicherry Cricket Club formed in 1830, per the same page.
- Hockey. Kollam is the hockey centre; P. R. Sreejesh, a former India captain, is from Kerala.
- Athletics. P. T. Usha and Anju Bobby George are the best-known names.
- Traditional sports. Vallam kali boat races, gatta gusthi (submission wrestling) and nadan panthu kali are listed on the page.
- Stadiums. Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi, with a stated capacity of 80,000, and the Sports Hub in Thiruvananthapuram (50,000) are the main venues; capacities are as reported.
Notable people
This table lists historical and cultural figures only. The roles are standard facts, not checked on the pages we opened, unless stated.
| Person | Known for |
|---|---|
| Sree Narayana Guru | Social reformer of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; message of one caste, one religion, one god |
| Ayyankali | Leader of Dalit rights, including access to roads and schools |
| Adi Shankara | Philosopher traditionally born at Kalady |
| Raja Ravi Varma | Painter of the Travancore royal family |
| Marthanda Varma | Founder of modern Travancore; the 1750 dedication to Padmanabhaswamy (reference page) |
| Sakthan Thampuran | Maharaja of Cochin who founded Thrissur Pooram in 1796 (reference page) |
| G. Sankara Kurup, Thakazhi, S. K. Pottekkatt, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, O. N. V. Kurup | Jnanpith winners (reference list) |
| Vaikom Muhammad Basheer | Novelist and story writer |
| P. T. Usha, Anju Bobby George, P. R. Sreejesh | Athletes (reference page) |
For exam preparation
- Census 2011 literacy for Kerala was 93.9% against 74.0% for India.
- Kerala was declared the first fully literate state in 1991.
- IIT Palakkad is the only IIT in Kerala; IIM Kozhikode and NIT Calicut are in Kozhikode.
- University of Kerala was established in 1937.
- NFHS-5 gave Kerala an infant mortality rate of 4.4 per 1,000 live births, the lowest in India.
- Kerala has no AIIMS as on October 2026; the Kinaloor proposal in Kozhikode is pending.
Government schemes
Kerala's schemes rest on three ideas: women's self-help groups and local-body planning, housing and welfare for the poor, and a public health safety net. Several carry the state's own names and are administered through local governments. The amounts and rules below are as reported on the pages we opened and may change; the state government that took office in 2026 may revise or rename schemes, and we could not confirm whether each remains in the same form.
| Scheme | What it does | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kudumbashree | Women's poverty eradication and empowerment programme, launched 17 May 1997, whose name means "prosperity of the family" | Three tiers: neighbourhood groups, area development societies and community development societies; about 48 lakh women in 3,17,724 neighbourhood groups (March 2025, reported); runs under the Local Self-Government Department; recognised as a National Resource Organisation under the National Rural Livelihood Mission in 2012 |
| LIFE Mission (Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment) | Housing and livelihood support for homeless and landless families | By February 2026, 5,00,364 of 6,04,046 sanctioned houses were completed, with a celebration on 24 February 2026 (news reports); the full name expansion is from general knowledge |
| Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP) | Cashless hospital cover of ₹5 lakh a year per family | Merged several earlier health schemes with Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY after an agreement with the National Health Authority on 31 October 2018; aimed at about 41.99 lakh families, about 64 lakh people; available in about 200 government and 544 private hospitals in a reported source; funding and new enrolment have been affected by disputes between the Centre and the state, so check the current position |
| KIIFB-funded projects | Roads, schools, hospitals and utilities financed through KIIFB | See the economy section |
| Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao | National campaign on the child sex ratio and girls' education | A central scheme, now national |
How to read scheme figures
Kerala's planning is unusual because a large part of the plan money is passed to panchayats, municipalities and corporations, which choose projects in village assemblies. This "People's Plan" approach began in 1996, according to general knowledge that we did not verify. Kudumbashree groups work with local bodies on micro-enterprises, community kitchens and employment guarantee work. Housing, social pensions and health insurance schemes are announced in the budget speech and carried out through government orders that set the eligibility, the documents required and the payment route. A budget amount is therefore an intent, not a promise of what an individual receives.
Beyond these, we did not verify other schemes often mentioned (social security pension amounts, the Aardram health programme, the Haritha Keralam environmental mission, school meal and uniform schemes, or the Akshaya e-centres), so they are not described. Check the state portals for current eligibility.
For exam preparation
- Kudumbashree was launched on 17 May 1997 and is a three-tier network of women's groups.
- In 2012 Kudumbashree became a National Resource Organisation under the National Rural Livelihood Mission.
- KASP gives ₹5 lakh a year per family and was merged with Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY in 2018.
- LIFE Mission had completed 5,00,364 homes by February 2026 (news reports).
- Kochi Metro employs Kudumbashree members, linking the scheme to urban transport.
Government exams in Kerala
Almost every regular state government job in Kerala is filled through one body, the Kerala Public Service Commission (Kerala PSC, or KPSC), which sits in Thiruvananthapuram. It runs the Kerala Administrative Service (KAS), the police ranks from Civil Police Officer to Sub-Inspector, clerks, last-grade staff, forest and excise posts, and hundreds of other categories. The Kerala High Court recruits its own staff, and teacher eligibility is tested by the state's Pareeksha Bhavan through the Kerala Teacher Eligibility Test (K-TET). Notification dates, vacancy numbers, fees and age limits change with every advertisement, so treat each figure below as a pointer and read the latest notice before applying. Where a figure comes from an exam-prep or news site and not from an official document, we write "reported".
For live openings, see Kerala government jobs. For practice, use our online test series. Neighbouring states run similar commission systems; compare Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Kerala Public Service Commission (Kerala PSC)
The commission is a constitutional body for recruitment to state posts. Wikipedia gives its year as 1956 and describes its roots in a 1923 commission of British India; its headquarters is at Thulasi Hills, Pattom Palace P.O., Thiruvananthapuram 695004, with 14 district offices (Wikipedia). We do not name the chairperson or members because they change; see current affairs for the incumbent. On 4 October 2026 its homepage carried notices such as a date extension for Forest Watcher (Category No. 97/2026) and several exam-date changes.
How the system works:
- Everything starts with One Time Registration (OTR). You register once on the commission's Thulasi portal and get a profile and user ID. For each post you then click "apply now" in the notification. The notices we read say no application fee is fixed, and the mobile number and email must stay unchanged.
- Category numbers. Each post gets a number written as number/year, for example 510/2024. Apply separately for each category number.
- Ranked lists. The result is a ranked list, with a main list and separate supplementary lists for backward communities. Appointments are "advised" from the list in rank order as vacancies are reported. Validity is covered in the next chapter.
- Medium. Question papers can carry Malayalam, Tamil or Kannada translation; you choose the language when you apply.
Kerala Administrative Service (KAS)
The KAS is the state's senior administrative cadre, created through the KAS Special Rules, 2018 (Wikipedia gives its start as 1 January 2018). Officers join as KAS Officer (Junior Time Scale) Trainees. The first batch came from the 2019 notification: Wikipedia reports a rank list in October 2021 and advice to 105 candidates from 1 November 2021. We opened two official notices in full: Category Nos. 186/2019 to 188/2019 (gazette 1 November 2019, last date 4 December 2019) and Category Nos. 01/2025 to 03/2025 (last date 9 April 2025).
There are three streams, each with its own category number and its own ranked list:
| Stream | Who can apply | Age limit in the notice |
|---|---|---|
| Stream 1 | Open direct recruitment from any bachelor's degree holder | 21 to 32 |
| Stream 2 | Full members or approved probationers in government service who are not yet in a first gazetted post in the scheduled departments | 21 to 40 |
| Stream 3 | Serving officers holding a first gazetted post or above in the scheduled departments, who have completed probation | Not completed 50 years on 1 January of the notification year |
For the 2025 notice, the commission advertised 31 vacancies (Stream 1: 11, Stream 2: 10, Stream 3: 10) at a pay scale of Rs 77,200 to 1,40,500.
Pattern (from the 2025 notice). Three stages:
| Stage | Papers and marks |
|---|---|
| Preliminary | Paper I General Studies, 100 marks, 1 hour 30 minutes. Paper II, 1 hour 30 minutes: Part 1 General Studies II (50), Part 2 language proficiency in Malayalam, Tamil or Kannada (30), Part 3 English (20). All objective. |
| Main | Three descriptive papers (General Studies I, II, III), 100 marks each, 2 hours each, in a question-cum-answer booklet. Answers may be written in English, Malayalam, Tamil or Kannada. |
| Interview | 45 marks in the 2025 notice (50 marks in the 2019 notice). |
The notice says preliminary marks are not counted in the final ranking, because the preliminary is a screening test. The 2025 notice scheduled the preliminary for 14 June 2025, the main for 17 and 18 October 2025 and the interview for January to February 2026; we did not check whether the schedule held. After selection, the trainee does 18 months of training and a two-year probation within a continuous three-year period. An officer who did not study Malayalam up to Matriculation level must pass a Malayalam proficiency test, along with the other departmental tests, to complete probation.
The KAS is not a yearly exam, so watch the commission's notices.
Police recruitment through the PSC
Kerala Police was formed on 1 November 1956 (Wikipedia), which also says the Kerala PSC conducts direct recruitment for Sub-Inspector (General Executive), Sub-Inspector (Armed Police), Civil Police Officer and Armed Police Constable posts, and that there are twelve armed battalions. The Kerala Police Academy is in Thrissur and the Police Training College is in Thiruvananthapuram.
Sub-Inspector of Police (Trainee). From Category Nos. 510/2024 to 512/2024 (gazette 30 December 2024, last date 29 January 2025):
- Three routes: Category 510 is open market, 511 is for graduate ministerial staff in the police and vigilance departments, and 512 is for graduate police constables and head constables. Reservation and rotation apply only to the open-market route; the other two are advised by merit.
- Pay scale Rs 45,600 to 95,600. Educational qualification: a graduation. Women can apply; candidates with disabilities are not eligible.
- Age for the open market: 20 to 31 (born between 2 January 1993 and 1 January 2004). For the other two routes, under 36 on 1 January 2024. Relaxations under the commission's general conditions apply.
- Physical standard for men: height 165.10 cm (160.02 cm for SC/ST), chest 81.28 cm and expansion 5.08 cm, with no relaxation in chest for SC/ST. For women: height 160 cm (155 cm for SC/ST). Eyesight must be 6/6 in each eye without glasses.
- Physical Efficiency Test: a candidate must qualify in five of eight events of the National Physical Efficiency Test, one-star standard. For men, for example, 100 metres in 14 seconds or 1500 metres in 5 minutes 44 seconds.
The notice does not give the written-test pattern, so we state none.
Civil Police Officer. We opened Category No. 790/2025 (a special recruitment of Scheduled Tribe candidates for Senior Civil Police Officer in Kollam district, one vacancy). It shows the shape of the post: SSLC pass, pay Rs 39,300 to 83,000, age 20 to 36, height 160 cm, chest 76 cm with 5 cm expansion, and the same five-of-eight physical test. For the general Civil Police Officer list, a search summary of the commission's notices reports a minimum height of 168 cm and chest of 81 cm with 5 cm expansion, with 160 cm and 76 cm for SC/ST. We did not read an official general notice, so confirm the number in the current advertisement.
Clerical and last-grade posts
These are the high-volume exams. Kerala PSC advertises them district-wise or statewide, runs a preliminary screening test and a main test for large lists, and ranks candidates by the final test. Prep sites report, and we could not match to an official notice:
- Lower Division Clerk (LDC): Category No. 503/2023, notified on 30 November 2023, for various departments, an SSLC-level competitive test, age 18 to 36, an exam held on 26 July 2024 (reported).
- Last Grade Servant (LGS): Category No. 535/2023, district-wise, notified on 15 December 2023, seventh-standard qualification, age 18 to 36 (reported).
Teacher posts and K-TET
The Kerala Teacher Eligibility Test (K-TET) is conducted by Pareeksha Bhavan, the state's examination board, as required by the Right to Education Act 2009. The official K-TET site shows four categories: Category I (Lower Primary), Category II (Upper Primary), Category III (High School) and Category IV. On 4 October 2026 it showed applications from 23 September to 3 October 2026, admit-card download on 4 November 2026 and exams on 14 and 15 November 2026. Applications for that session had closed by the date of this page.
Prep sites report, and we could not check on the board's site, that each paper is 150 marks and 2 hours 30 minutes with no negative marking, that the pass mark is 90 (60%) for general candidates and 82 (55%) for reserved categories, and that the certificate is valid for life. A K-TET pass is an eligibility condition for teaching posts; confirm in the post's own notification.
Kerala High Court
The Kerala High Court was established on 1 November 1956, sits at Kochi and also serves the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Before 1956 it was the High Court of Travancore-Cochin. The Court recruits its own staff and runs the Kerala State Higher Judicial Service examination through its portal (hckrecruitment.keralacourts.in). When we opened the portal on 4 October 2026, the postings included Office Attendant (Rec. 21/2026), Registrar (Protocol and Security Control) on a term basis, Translator on contract, Helper, Duplicator Operator, Personal Assistant Grade II to Judge and Confidential Assistant Grade II. The page showed no eligibility or age limits, so open each notification.
Domicile, reservation and recruitment rules
Kerala's general conditions of the Kerala PSC do not, in the pages we read, make Kerala residence a condition for applying to most posts; the general conditions allow Indian citizens (and certain other categories such as subjects of Nepal and Bhutan, with an eligibility certificate). What does depend on Kerala is the reservation: the backward-community list and its certificates are Kerala's, the age concession in the notices is for "other backward communities of the State of Kerala", and special recruitments such as the Kollam police post are explicitly for Scheduled Tribe candidates of Kerala. Read the conditions in each notification. Candidates already serving the Central Government or another state need a no-objection certificate for the post, as the KAS and SI notices say.
The reservation system in one paragraph
Kerala reserves 50% of appointments in rotation, and keeps the rest "open competition". The rule is Rule 14 of Part II of the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, 1958, as amended by the Kerala State and Subordinate Services (5th Amendment) Rules, 2020 (G.O.(P) No. 14/2020/P&ARD, notified on 23 October 2020, S.R.O. No. 733/2020). The rule uses a "unit of appointment of 20": of every 20 vacancies, 2 are for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 8 for Other Backward Classes, 2 for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the general category, and 8 for open competition on merit. Candidates are appointed in a fixed turn order, which the rules write out for each cycle. A reserved-category candidate who is selected on his or her own merit does not use up a reserved turn. Rule 15(d) says reserved vacancies must not exceed 50% of the total vacancies in a selection year, which is why the commission sometimes skips a turn ("temporarily passed over", TPO) and fills it from open competition, and carries the reserved turn forward.
Turn-wise percentages (out of every 100 appointments)
Counted from the 100-turn chart (posts other than Last Grade Service) in the 2020 gazette, and checked against Rule 17.
| Category | Turns out of 100 |
|---|---|
| Open competition | 40 |
| Ezhavas, Thiyyas and Billavas | 14 |
| Muslims | 12 |
| Scheduled Castes | 8 |
| Scheduled Tribes | 2 |
| Latin Catholics and Anglo-Indians | 4 |
| Viswakarmas | 3 |
| Other Backward Classes (communities not named separately) | 3 |
| Hindu Nadars | 1 |
| Nadars included in SIUC | 1 |
| Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity | 1 |
| Dheevaras | 1 |
| Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) | 10 |
That gives SC and ST 10% together, the Other Backward Classes 40% in all, EWS 10% and open competition 40%. For the Last Grade Service the OBC 40% is divided differently, according to Rule 17: for every 40 OBC appointments, 11 to Ezhavas, Thiyyas and Billavas, 10 to Muslims, 4 to Latin Catholics and Anglo-Indians, 1 to Hindu Nadars, 2 to Nadars in SIUC, 2 to Scheduled Caste converts, 2 to Viswakarmas, 2 to Dheevaras and 6 to other OBCs. The rules also say that if no suitable candidate is available for a community after the vacancy is notified separately at least twice, the post goes to other OBC candidates, then to SC and then to ST candidates.
The gazette lists EWS turns in the chart (for example turns 9, 19, 29 and so on at every tenth place); a prep site reports the same, along with an EWS income limit of under Rs 4 lakh a year and land limits, which we could not verify from an official document. An unfilled EWS vacancy goes to open competition and is not carried forward. The commission's own notice for the KAS reserves 4% of vacancies for candidates with benchmark disabilities. We did not verify the percentage for ex-servicemen or sports persons.
Ranked-list validity
According to the commission's own page on ranked lists, a list stays in force for one year from the day it is brought into force. If no candidate is advised in that year, the list continues until three years have passed, and if still no candidate has been advised, it can be extended by one more year or until one candidate is advised, whichever is earlier. Lists for training courses expire a year after finalisation. During a government ban on recruitment not exceeding 18 months, lists can be extended for 30 days after the ban ends. The KAS, SI and Senior Civil Police Officer notices we read each say the list stays in force for one year.
Age limits and relaxation
The upper-age concessions listed in the KAS (2019, 2025) and other notices, all subject to an overall cap of 50 years:
| Category | Relaxation |
|---|---|
| Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes | 5 years |
| Other Backward Communities of Kerala | 3 years |
| Visually, hearing or speech disabled | Up to 15 years |
| Orthopaedically disabled | Up to 10 years |
| Ex-servicemen | Length of defence service plus unemployment since discharge, up to 5 years |
| Widows | Up to 5 years |
The base age differs by post: the KAS uses 21 to 32 for Stream 1, the SI open market 20 to 31, and prep sites report 18 to 36 for LDC and LGS. Always use the notification.
Language rules
Malayalam is the official language of the state. The 1958 rules say people from linguistic minorities who take the recruitment test in a language other than Malayalam must pass the Malayalam language test prescribed by a 1966 government order within ten years of appointment; for them, probation is extended if needed, and the person is discharged if the test is not passed in ten years. A person who studied Malayalam as a second language in high school or degree courses is deemed to have passed. This is separate from the KAS rule that an officer who did not study Malayalam to Matriculation level passes a Malayalam proficiency test during probation. We read a copy of the rules hosted on a college site, so check the current text for changes.
Selection stages
Clerical and last-grade posts: an application, a written (OMR or online) test, then certificate verification and advice. Police: a written test, a physical efficiency test and a medical check where the notice requires them. KAS: preliminary, main and interview. Certificate rules are strict: SC/ST candidates need a community certificate from an authority not below Tahsildar, and backward-community candidates need a non-creamy-layer certificate (valid one year); the community claimed cannot be changed at any stage. Departments, not the commission, report vacancies, so we cannot predict dates.
How to use this guide for exam preparation
Most Kerala PSC written tests include a block on Kerala and its history, geography, culture and administration, along with general science, current affairs, English and Malayalam. This guide covers the Kerala part. The rest of a paper needs separate practice, and our online test series is the place for that. We have no Kerala exam page of our own yet, so use this section with the commission's own syllabus for the post you are targeting.
Which sections give the most marks
- History: the 1956 formation, the Travancore and Cochin princely states, the freedom movement and social reform movements.
- Geography: districts, rivers, backwaters, hills, forests and coastline.
- Administration and government: the 14 districts, the 140-seat Assembly, the High Court, constitutional bodies.
- Culture: art forms, festivals, literature, temples and heritage.
- Exam rules: reservation, age limits and the one-time registration process, which matter before you apply.
A four-week revision plan
| Week | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Read the Overview, History and Geography sections once. Make a one-page table of the 14 districts with headquarters, rivers and notes. |
| 2 | Read Administration, Demography and the Legislature. Learn the numbers: formation date, seats, census figures, taluks. Take a timed mock with 25 Kerala questions. |
| 3 | Read Economy, Agriculture, Culture and Tourism. List festivals, art forms, crops and national parks in tables. Redo the week-2 mistakes. |
| 4 | Revise only the Rapid-fire table below and your own notes, then take two full-length mocks in the pattern of your target post. |
Common traps
- OTR errors. An application is rejected if it does not match the notice; the community, claims and language claimed in your profile cannot be changed later.
- Wrong category number. One post may have several category numbers (for example the KAS streams, or the SI open-market and departmental routes). Apply to the one that fits you.
- Old patterns. The KAS interview was 50 marks in 2019 and 45 marks in 2025. Check the year of the paper you are reading.
Rapid-fire facts
Facts are as on 4 October 2026 and come from the sources listed at the end. Items marked "reported" come from exam-prep sites, or from a single Wikipedia page.
| Fact | Answer |
|---|---|
| Date Kerala was formed | 1 November 1956 |
| State capital | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Largest city | Kochi (metropolitan area), per Wikipedia |
| Area | 38,863 sq km |
| Coastline | 595 km |
| Population, Census 2011 | About 33 million |
| Sex ratio, Census 2011 | 1,084 females per 1,000 males |
| Literacy rate, as given by Wikipedia (2018) | 96.2% |
| Official language | Malayalam |
| Number of districts | 14 |
| Revenue divisions | 27 |
| Taluks | 77 |
| Largest district by area | Idukki, 4,612 sq km |
| Smallest district by area | Alappuzha, 1,415 sq km |
| Most populous district | Malappuram |
| Least populous district | Wayanad |
| Newest district | Kasaragod, 24 May 1984 |
| Highest peak | Anamudi, 2,695 m |
| Longest river | Periyar, 244 km |
| Lake called the longest in India by Wikipedia | Vembanad |
| State bird | Great hornbill |
| State tree | Coconut |
| Year of the first elected communist government | 1957 |
| First Assembly met | 5 April 1957 |
| Vidhan Sabha seats | 140 |
| Seats reserved for SC | 14 |
| Majority mark | 71 |
| High Court | Kerala High Court, Kochi |
| High Court established | 1 November 1956 |
| Union Territory served by the High Court | Lakshadweep |
| High Court before 1956 | High Court of Travancore-Cochin |
| Recruiting body for state jobs | Kerala Public Service Commission |
| Kerala PSC headquarters | Thulasi Hills, Pattom Palace, Thiruvananthapuram |
| Kerala PSC district offices | 14 |
| PSC portal used for registration | Thulasi (One Time Registration) |
| Fee fixed for most PSC applications in notices we read | None |
| Ranked list standard validity | One year |
| Maximum validity without any advice | Three years, plus one year extension |
| Year of the KAS Special Rules | 2018 |
| KAS trainee designation | KAS Officer (Junior Time Scale) Trainee |
| KAS first official notification | Gazette of 1 November 2019 |
| KAS streams | Three |
| Stream 1 age | 21 to 32 |
| Stream 2 age | 21 to 40 |
| Stream 3 age | Under 50 |
| KAS vacancies in the 2025 notice | 31 (11, 10, 10) |
| KAS pay scale in the 2025 notice | Rs 77,200 to 1,40,500 |
| KAS preliminary papers | Two |
| KAS preliminary Paper I | General Studies, 100 marks |
| KAS Paper II parts | 50 General Studies, 30 language, 20 English |
| Languages for the KAS language-proficiency part | Malayalam, Tamil or Kannada |
| KAS main papers | Three descriptive papers of 100 marks each |
| KAS interview marks | 45 (2025 notice); 50 (2019 notice) |
| Preliminary marks counted for final ranking | No |
| KAS training period | 18 months |
| KAS probation | 2 years on duty within 3 years |
| Disability reservation in the KAS notices | 4% of vacancies |
| Overall age cap with relaxations | 50 years |
| Age relaxation for SC/ST | 5 years |
| Age relaxation for Other Backward Communities | 3 years |
| Age relaxation for orthopaedic disability | Up to 10 years |
| Age relaxation for widows | Up to 5 years |
| Rule governing reservation | Rule 14, Part II, KS & SS Rules 1958 |
| Unit of appointment | 20 |
| Open competition share | 40% |
| OBC share | 40% |
| SC and ST share | 10% together (8 and 2 in the 100-turn chart) |
| EWS reservation | 10% (from the 2020 amendment) |
| Date of the EWS amendment notification | 23 October 2020 |
| Ezhava, Thiyya, Billava share | 14 |
| Muslim share | 12 |
| Latin Catholic and Anglo-Indian share | 4 |
| Viswakarma share | 3 |
| Ceiling on reserved appointments in a selection year | 50% |
| Meaning of TPO | Temporarily passed over |
| Police formed | 1 November 1956 |
| Police Academy | Thrissur |
| Armed Police battalions | Twelve |
| SI trainee recruitment (2024) | Category Nos. 510 to 512/2024 |
| SI open-market age (2024) | 20 to 31 |
| SI male height standard | 165.10 cm (160.02 cm SC/ST) |
| Physical efficiency test | Five of eight events, one-star standard |
| K-TET categories | Four |
| K-TET conducting body | Pareeksha Bhavan |
| Next K-TET dates shown on 4 October 2026 | 14 and 15 November 2026 |
| K-TET pass marks (reported) | 90 of 150 general; 82 reserved |
| Test for linguistic minorities in service | Malayalam language test within ten years |
Frequently asked questions
Who conducts government exams in Kerala?
The Kerala Public Service Commission recruits for most state posts. The Kerala High Court recruits its own staff, and Pareeksha Bhavan conducts K-TET.
What is One Time Registration?
A single profile on the Kerala PSC's Thulasi portal. You register once, then apply to each notification through your profile.
Is there an application fee for Kerala PSC posts?
The notices we read (KAS, Sub-Inspector, Senior Civil Police Officer) say no fee is fixed. Check each notification.
What is the Kerala Administrative Service?
The state's senior administrative cadre, started under the 2018 special rules. Entry is through three streams, with separate ranked lists.
Do prelims marks count in the KAS final rank?
No. The notices say the preliminary is a screening test only.
When did EWS reservation start in Kerala state services?
The amendment rules were notified on 23 October 2020.
What is the KAS exam pattern?
Preliminary (two objective papers, screening only), a main exam of three descriptive papers of 100 marks each, and an interview (45 marks in 2025).
What is the KAS age limit?
For the 2025 notice, 21 to 32 for Stream 1, 21 to 40 for Stream 2 and under 50 for Stream 3, with relaxations up to an overall cap of 50.
How long is a Kerala PSC ranked list valid?
One year from the day it comes into force, extendable up to three years if no candidate has been advised, plus one more year in the rule's last case.
Do I need to be a native of Kerala to apply?
The general conditions we read require Indian citizenship, not Kerala residence, but community-based reservation and age relaxation depend on Kerala's lists and certificates, and some special recruitments are only for Kerala candidates. Read the post's notification.
What are Kerala's reservation percentages?
Out of every 100 appointments in the main chart: 40 open competition, 40 for Other Backward Classes (Ezhava 14, Muslim 12, Latin Catholic and Anglo-Indian 4, others 10), 10 for SC and ST (8 and 2), and 10 for EWS.
What is the age relaxation for SC, ST and OBC?
Five years for SC and ST and three years for Other Backward Communities, within a 50-year cap.
Is Malayalam compulsory?
Not as a condition to apply. People from linguistic minorities who write the test in another language must pass a Malayalam language test after appointment, within ten years.
How is a Sub-Inspector selected?
Through the PSC with a physical efficiency test (five of eight events). We did not find the written-test pattern in the official notice, so check the current syllabus.
What are the physical standards for police posts?
They differ by post. For the 2024 SI notice: men 165.10 cm and women 160 cm, with lower figures for SC/ST. Confirm in the current notice.
What is K-TET and how many categories does it have?
A teacher eligibility test by Pareeksha Bhavan with four categories (I to IV). Prep sites report a certificate with no expiry; confirm on the official site.
Sources and verification
Time-sensitive facts (budget, exam rules, the 2026 election result, local-body results) were checked on 4 October 2026. Where sources disagreed or a figure came from a single secondary source, the text says so. Election figures are Wikipedia reproductions of Election Commission data, with the 2026-27 revised budget from PRS Legislative Research; cross-check Election Commission results before quoting a number in an answer. Census 2011 is the latest published census.
Facts verified on 4 October 2026. The reservation figures and the rule text come from official documents we opened in full; the rest come from official notices, the official sites and Wikipedia as a cross-check. Anything marked "reported" is from an exam-prep site or a search summary.
- Kerala PSC official site (keralapsc.gov.in), homepage on 4 October 2026.
- Kerala PSC page on the validity of ranked lists (keralapsc.gov.in/node/9003) and its glossary page (keralapsc.gov.in/glossary).
- KAS notification, Category Nos. 186/2019 to 188/2019 (gazette 1 November 2019).
- KAS notification, Category Nos. 01/2025 to 03/2025 (last date 9 April 2025).
- Sub-Inspector of Police (Trainee) notification, Category Nos. 510/2024 to 512/2024.
- Senior Civil Police Officer (ST special recruitment, Kollam) notification, Category No. 790/2025.
- Kerala State and Subordinate Services (5th Amendment) Rules, 2020, Kerala Gazette Extraordinary of 23 October 2020 (G.O.(P) No. 14/2020/P&ARD), with its 100-turn annexure.
- Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, 1958, Parts I and II, a copy hosted on gcek.ac.in.
- Kerala PSC General Conditions (Part II of the notifications, Malayalam version), for citizenship and age relaxation.
- K-TET official site (ktet.kerala.gov.in), homepage on 4 October 2026.
- Kerala High Court recruitment portal (hckrecruitment.keralacourts.in), homepage on 4 October 2026.
- Wikipedia, as a cross-check only: Kerala Public Service Commission, Kerala Administrative Service, Kerala Police, Kerala High Court, Kerala, Kerala Legislative Assembly and Districts of Kerala.
- Search-result summaries for LDC and LGS, K-TET pass marks, the EWS income limit and the general Civil Police Officer height.