St.

Jospeh’s School, Abu Dhabi

CHAPTER 2: FEDERALISM

What is Federalism?
• A system of government in which the power is shared among the central
authority and various other constituent units of the country is called
federalism.

Key Features of Federalism:(Refer Textbook)

1. More than one tier of government.

2. There are different defined laws and jurisdictions for different tiers in terms of
legislation, taxation, and administration.
3. The Constitution defines the jurisdiction.
4. Courts can intervene and interpret the powers of government at any level.
5. For financial autonomy, the sources of income are specifically defined for each
level of government.
6. This form of government has dual objectives: promotes the unity of the nation,
along with accommodating regional diversity.

What Makes India a Federal Country?(Refer Textbook also)

The Constitution provided for a two-tier system of government: The Union
Government or Central Government and the State governments. Later Panchayats
and Municipalities were also added.
Since there is a three-tier of government, the Constitution states three lists:
1. Union List:
• Subjects like defense, foreign affairs, currency, etc. are included in the list.
• These subjects are of national importance.
 • Laws related to this list are made by the Union List.
2. State List:
• Subjects like police, commerce, irrigation, etc. are covered under this list.
• These subjects are of State and local importance.
• Laws related to this subject are made by the state government.
3. Concurrent List:
• Contains subjects of common interest to both the Union as well as the States
such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption, and
succession.
• Both the Central and the state governments can make laws in the
Concurrent List.

How is Federalism Practiced? Or

What steps were taken to make India into a federation?(Refer Textbook for
more points)

Linguistic States:
• The creation of linguistic States was a significant step for democratic politics
in our country.
• In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India were changed to
ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same State.
Some states like Nagaland, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand were created to
recognize differences based on culture, ethnicity, or geography.
• It helped to make the country more united and the administration was easier.

Language Policy:
Hindi was identified as the official language but no language was given the status
of the national language. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognized
as Scheduled Languages by the Constitution.

Center-State Relations:
Restructuring the relationship between the Center and the State is yet another way
in which federalism was strengthened in practice. If no single party has a clear
majority in the Lok Sabha, major national parties could join forces with other
parties, along with several regional parties, to form a coalition in the Centre.
Decentralization in India: (Refer Textbook also)
• The process in which the power is taken from the Central and State
government and distributed in the hands of local governments is called
decentralization.
• This idea was brought into account as there are many problems and issues
that are better resolved and taken care of at the local level than state or
central level. Hence several local institutes were set up to take care of them.
• This initiative was taken by the Indian government in 1992 and the
Constitution was amended to create a third-tier of government. This made
Indian democracy more powerful and effective.

To bring this to power effectively, the following steps were taken:

(Refer Textbook also)
• Regular elections for these local bodies were made mandatory.
• Seats were reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other
Backward classes to ensure their representation.
• Women had one-third of the seats reserved for them.
• State Election Commission was also established to conduct these elections.
• Some share of power and revenue that the state government had was given
to these local bodies.
• Panchayati raj is the local government that is present in each village. A gram
panchayat is also present in some groups of villages in some states.
• Big cities and urban areas are taken care of by the municipalities.

Important Questions:
1. State the dual objective of a federal system.
Ans: The federal system thus has dual objectives:
• To safeguard and promote the unity of the country.
 • To accommodate regional diversity. These aspects are crucial for the
institutions and practice of federalism. Governments at different levels
should agree to some rules of power-sharing and trust that each would abide
by its part of the agreement.
2. What are the factors that make the Indian federal government so
attractive?
Ans: The following are the factors:
• The powers are distributed and mobilized among center, state, and local
governments.
• The effective legal system and organized steps to make decisions make the
process transparent and more trustworthy.

4. What is Union List?(Refer Textbook also)

Ans: Subjects like defense, foreign affairs, currency, etc. are included in the list.
These subjects are of national importance. Laws related to this list are made by
the Union List.
5. What is the State List? (Refer Textbook also)
Ans: Subjects like police, commerce, irrigation, etc. are covered under this list.
These subjects are of State and local importance. Laws related to this subject are
made by the state government.
6. What is a concurrent list? (Refer Textbook also)
Ans: Contains subjects of common interest to both the Union as well as the States
such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption, and succession. Both
the Central and the state governments can make laws in the Concurrent List.
7. What level of government can legislate on the residuary subjects? (Refer
Textbook also)
Ans: India has a federal government and hence has its power divided between the
state, central and local governments. The Union government has the power to
legislate on the residuary subjects.

THREE TIER STRUCTURE OF PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM

The local rural government is commonly known as Panchayati Raj. Every village,
or group of villages in certain states, has a gram of panchayat. It is a council
comprising numerous ward members, often called 'Panch', and a president or
'Sarpanch'. They are elected directly by all adults living in a village or town. Gram
Panchayat is the decision-making organ for the whole village.
The Panchayat operates under the supervision and control of the Gram Sabha. All
the voters in the village are members of it. It must hold meetings at least two to
three times a year to authorize the yearly budget of the gram panchayat and to
monitor the performance of the gram panchayat.
When a few Gram Panchayat is grouped, they form Panchayat Samiti or Block or
Mandal. The representative of Panchayat Samiti shall be elected by all members
of Panchayat in that area.
All the Panchayat Samitis or Mandals in a district together make up the Zilla
(district) Parishad. Members of the Lok Sabha district, MLAs of the district, some
other representatives of other district-level organs are members of Zilla Parishad.
Just as Gram Panchayat is for rural areas, we also have municipalities for urban
areas. Big cities are organized by Municipal Corporations. Both Municipalities and
Municipal Corporations are governed by elected bodies made up of
representatives of the people. The Municipal Chairperson is the elected head of
the Municipality. Such an officer is called the Mayor of the Municipal Corporation.
This current system of local government is the biggest experiment in democracy
in any part of the world. The constitutional status of local government has enabled
us to deepen the roots of democracy in our country. It has also boosted the
representation and voice of women in our democracy.

Difference between Unitary System and Federal System

The difference between the unitary system and the federal system has been
mentioned in the table below:

Unitary System Federal System

The Unitary System of government follows

This type of system follows two
only one level of government and the Central
or more levels of government.
Government is the head of the sub-units.

In the Federal System, the

The Central Government has the power to run
Central Government does not
the state government system and the
have the power to pass any
legislation.
order to the State Government.
In this system of government, the Central
In the Federal System, the State
Government is the supreme body that is also
Government is not in control of
in control of the administrative system and
the Central Government and has
can also provide delegatory support
its own power.
whenever required.

ROUTES OF FEDERATION: Coming Together and Holding Together (LEARN from

TEXTBOOK)

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