Prepared by

- Ravi sir 1
 Federalism
Federalism is a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels
of government have formal authority over the land and people.

What is federalism?
Origin:
Federalism word is derived from latin word “Foedus” which means a
compact or an agreement.

Meaning:
➢ Federalism is a method of government that allows two or more
entities to share control over the same geographic region.

➢ Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided

between a central authority and various constituent units of the
country.
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 Federalism

➢ Usually, a federation has two levels of government.

➢ One is the government for the entire country that is

usually responsible for a few subjects of common
national interest.

➢ The others are governments at the level of provinces or

states that look after much of the day-to-day
administering of their state.

➢ Both these levels of governments enjoy their power

independent of the other
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 FEDERAL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

Though only 25 of the world’s 192 countries have federal political systems, their citizens
make up 40 per cent of the world’s population. Most of the large countries of the world are
federations.
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 What is unitary system?

• In this form of administration, there is only one level of government over the
whole country. If there are more sub-units, they are subordinates to central.

• Here, central government passes on the orders to other levels of

government(provincial or the local government).

• Other levels of government are subordinate to central government

• Example: United kingdom

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 What is Federal system?

• In this form of administration, there are two levels of government(Central/National and

State).

• The central government cannot order the state government to do something.(two

different types of law-Central and states laws).

• State government has powers of its own for which it is not answerable to the central
government.

• Both these governments are separately answerable to the people.

• Example: USA, India

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Unitary and Federal System Countries in the World

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The Key Features of federation
• There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.

• Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own
JURISDICTION in specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration.

• The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the
constitution. So the existence and authority of each tier of government is
constitutionally guaranteed.

• The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by

one level of government. Such changes require the consent of both the levels of
government.

• Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different
levels of government. The highest court acts as an umpire if disputes arise between
different levels of government in the exercise of their respective powers.
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 The Key Features of federation

• Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to

ensure its financial autonomy.

• The federal system thus has dual objectives:

- To safeguard and promote unity of the country.
- To accommodate regional diversity.
• Therefore, two aspects are crucial for the institutions and
practice of federalism:
- Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of power-sharing.
- They should also trust that each would abide by its part of the agreement.
• An ideal federal system has both aspects mutual trust and agreement to live
together.

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 Balance of power

• The exact balance of power between the central and the state
government varies from one federation to another.

• This balance depends mainly on the historical context in which the

federation was formed.

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 TYPES OF FEDERALISM

There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed:

1. ‘Coming together’ federation’:-

- it involves independent states coming together on their own to
form a bigger unit.

- It helps to maintain sovereignty and security.

- Each state is equally strong.

Example: USA, Switzerland and Australia.

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Example of ‘Coming together’ federation countries

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TYPES OF FEDERALISM

2. ‘Holding together’ federation:

- It is where a large country decides to divide its power between the
constituent States and the national government (Country is divided into
states for better Administration).
- It helps for accommodation of diversity.
- Some states might be given more power. The
ultimate power lies in the hand of central.

Example: India, Spain and Belgium.

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Example of ‘Holding together’ federation countries

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 What makes India a federal Country?

• Division of powers
• Some states are given more
powers
• Written constitution
• Union territories
• Jurisdiction
• Levels of Government

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 QUESTIONS
Q.1 DEFINE FEDERALISM.

Q.2 MENTION THE FEATURES OF FEDERALISM.

Q.3 DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN UNITARY AND FEDERAL

SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT.

Q.4 WHAT ARE THE TWO ROUTES OF MAKING

FEDERATIONS.

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Division of power

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Division of power

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How is Federalism Practiced in India

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How is Federalism Practiced in India
Linguistic States:
• The first challenge faced after independence was linguistic states.
• In 1947, the areas, boundaries and names of several old states of
India were changed in order to create new states.
• New states were formed on the basis of language and culture.
(who spoke the same language lived in the same state.)
Ex: Gujarat, West-Bengal and Bihar.
• Some states were formed on the basis of ethnicity and geography
such as Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand
• Some concerned that it might lead to disintegration of the nation,
but worked well and effectively.

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How is Federalism Practiced in India

Language Policy :
• A second test for Indian federation is the language policy. Our
constitution did not give the status of national language to any one
language. Hindi was identified as the official language. But it is the
mother tongue of only about 40% of Indians.
• There are 21 other Scheduled languages. State can enjoy its own
language for official purpose.
• We have adopted three languages structure and any two languages
can be used for administrative purpose.

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How is Federalism Practiced in India

Language Policy :
• According to constitution, the use of English for official Purposes
was to stop in 1965. but non-Hindi speaking States demanded
that the use of English, therefore the central government said to
continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purposes.
• A candidate in an examination conducted for the central
government positions may opt to take the examination in any of
these languages. States too have their own official languages.

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Scheduled Language of India

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How is Federalism Practiced in India
Central and State Relation :
• It helped a lot to avoid clashes between central and states.
• When same political party ruling in central and state. State couldn't enjoy more power as central
government could influence the decisions of states.
• But after 1990, many regional parties came up and acquired the power in states. This was also
the beginning of the era of Coalition Governments at the centre.
• Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to
enter into an alliance with many parties including several regional parties to form a government
at the centre.
• This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of the state
governments. Thus more independent decisions were taken by states and federal system was
practiced.
• Today, these regional political parties are even affecting the decision making in central also.
• So we can say that today’s power sharing is more effective than it was practiced in the early days
when constitution was written.

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LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY OF INDIA

• As per the census report, 2001 of India held in 2001 there are 1500
distinct languages.
• These languages were grouped together under some major
languages like Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bundelkhandi, Chattisgarhi,
Rajasthani, Bhili and many others were grouped together under
‘Hindi’.
• Even after this grouping, the census found 114 major languages of
these 22 languages are now included in Eighth scheduled of the
Indian constitution and are therefore called scheduled languages
others are called non- scheduled languages.
• In terms of languages, India is perhaps the most diverse country in
the world.

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DECENTRALIZATION IN INDIA

• When power is taken away from central and given to other levels of
government(state government and given to local government) is
called ‘Decentralization’.
• It plays very important role in democracy as
- It helps to reduce the burden of central government
- It helps to increase the participation of people in decision making
and also democratic process.
- It helps to solve local problems effectively.
- Local self government is called schools of democracy.

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DECENTRALIZATION IN INDIA

• We have after independence two tiers of government in our country.

But now we have three tier of government in our country. Why?
- India is a vast country therefore India cannot be run only through
these two tiers government.
- States in India are as large as independent countries of Europe (in
terms of population, Uttar Pradesh is bigger than Russia, Maharashtra
is about as big as Germany).
- Many of these states are internally very diverse so there is thus a need
for power sharing within these states.

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 DECENTRALIZATION IN INDIA
• A major step towards decentralization was taken in 1992. The Constitution was
amended to make the third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective. Here are
the key features of 3-tier democracy:

- It is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies.

- Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these
institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
- At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.
- State Election Commission has been created in each State to conduct panchayat and
municipal elections.
-The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local
government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from State to State.

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DECENTRALIZATION IN INDIA
Federal structure in India

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STRUCTURE OF SELF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
( Rural)

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STRUCTURE OF SELF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT(Urban)

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URBAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

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Deficiencies of Local Self Government

• Elections to Gram Sabhas are not held regularly.

• Most of the state governments are not transferring powers and

resources (Ex. Financial Needs).

• Women inactive participation (Sarpanch pati).

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 QUESTIONS
Q.1 MENTION THE SUBJECTS OF UNION AND STATE LISTS.

Q.2 WHICH SUBJECTS ARE COVERED IN CONCURRENT LIST? WHO MAKES

RULES ON THE SUBJECTS GIVEN IN CONCURRENT LIST?

Q.3 WHAT ARE RESIDUARY POWERS?

Q.4 WHAT ARE UNION TERRITORIES?

Q.5 WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO CHANGE THE POWER SHARING

ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN CENTRE AND STATES?

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