Jawahar Nagar, established in November 14, 1964 is the first planned residential residential colony in the state of Kerala. The colony was developed under the leadership of then Chief Town Planner, Thomas Paulose, who is still a resident of the colony. Before it was named Jawahar Nagar, the area was refereed to as Maracheenivila. Maracheeni translates to Tapioca in Malayalam. This was in reference to large tapioca farms that were cultivated on the land. In the late 1800s, during the reign of Ayilyam Thirunal Rama Varma, king of the princely state of Travancore, tapioca was imported into the country from Brazil to fight a famine that hit the state. This process in turn made Jawahar Nagar the first area where tapioca was locally cultivated in India. A research center was also established within the locality. This center was later transformed into the Jawahar Nagar Lower Primary School during the redesigning stages.