The event that directly led to the formation of the State of Kerala on November 1, 1956, was the States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
This Act was passed by the Indian Parliament to reorganize the states of India primarily along linguistic lines. Before 1956, the Malayalam-speaking regions were fragmented across different administrative units:
Travancore-Cochin: A state formed by the merger of the princely states of Travancore and Cochin.
Malabar District: Part of the Madras Presidency (under British rule).
Kasaragod taluk: A Malayalam-speaking area that was part of the South Canara district of Madras state.
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956, brought these Malayalam-speaking areas together, leading to the creation of the unified state of Kerala. Some southern taluks of Travancore-Cochin (like Kanyakumari district and Sengottai Taluk) were transferred to Madras State (now Tamil Nadu).
