CHAPTER-2

FEDERALISM
Federalism-
It is a system of government in which the power is
divided between a central authority and various constituents
units of the country.
Key features of federalism-
1. Two or more levels of govt.-
In the federal system there
are two or more levels or tiers of government.
2. Each tier has its own jurisdiction-
Different tiers of
government governs the same citizens, but each tier has its
own jurisdiction specific matters of legislation, taxation and
administration.
3. Existence and authority of government
constitutionally guaranteed –
This jurisdiction of the
respective levels or tiers of government are specified in
the constitution. So, the existence and authority of each
tier of government in constitutionally guaranteed.
4. Constitution cannot be changed unilaterally-
The
fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be
unilaterally changed by one level of government. Such
 changes requires the consent of both the levels of
government.
5. Courts as an empire-
Courts have the power to interpret
the constitution and the powers of different levels of
government. The highest court acts as an empire if
disputes arise between different levels of government in
the exercises of their respective powers.
6. Financial autonomy-
Sources of revenue for each level of
government are clearly specified to ensure its financial
autonomy.
7. Dual objective-
The federal system thus has dual
objectives: so safeguard and promote unity of the country,
while at the same time accommodate regional diversity.
Difference between federal form of government and
unitary system-
1. Under the unitary system either there is only one level
of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the
central government. But in federal system there are two
or more levels of government.
2. In a unitary form of government the national
government has all the power. Any constitutional power
given to the states or region of the country is dependent
on the national government. In the federal system all
levels of government enjoy their power independent of
the other.
3. In unitary system power given to states can we
withdraw by central government at any time. But in
federal system central government cannot take power
of states.
4. In unitary system the central government can pass on
orders to the provincial or the local government. But in
the federal system, the central government cannot
order the state government to do something. 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.
5. India is the example of federal system of government
and Sri-Lanka is the example of unitary system of
government.
Forms of federation-
The exact balance of power between the state and the
central government varies from one federation to
another. This balance depends mainly on the historical
context in which the federation was formed. There are
two kinds of routes through which federation has been
formed which are follows:-
1. Coming together federation-
In this form of federation
independent states coming together on their own to
from a bigger unit, so that by pooling sovereignty and
retaining identity they can increase their security.
This type of coming together federation include the
USA, Switzerland and Australia. In the first category of
federation, all the constituent states usually have
 equal power and are strong vis-à-vis the federal
government.
2. Holding together federation-
The second route is
where a large country decides to divide its power
between the constituent states and the national
government. India, Spain and Belgium are examples
of this kind of this second category, the central
government tends to be more powerful vis-à-vis the
states. Very often different constituent units of the
federation have unequal powers. Some units are
granted special powers.
What makes India a federal country-
India had
emerged as an independent nation after a painful and
bloody partition. The constitution declared India as a
union of states. The Indian union is based on the
principles of federalism.
TWO-TIER SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
The constitution originally provided a two-tier system
of government:-
1. The union government or central government.
2. The state government

THREE-TIER SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT-

A third tier
of federalism was added later in the form of
panchayats and municipalities. The constitution
clearly provided a three- fold distribution of
legislative powers between the union government
and the state government. Thus it contains three
list as follows:-
1. UNION LIST-
It includes subjects of national
importance such as defence of the country,
foreign affairs, banking, communications and
currency. They are included in this list because
we need a uniform policy on these matters
throughout the country. The union government
alone can make laws relating to the subjects
mentioned in the union list.
2. STATE LISTS-
It contains subjects of state and
local importance such as police, trade,
commerce, agriculture and irrigation. The state
governments alone can make laws relating to
the subjects mentioned in the state list.
3. CONCURRENT LIST-
It includes subjects of
common interest to both the union government
as well as the state government such as
education, forest, trade unions, marriage,
adaptation and succession. Both the union as
well as the state government can make laws on
the subject mentioned in this list. If their lost
consist of each other the law made by the union
government will prevail.
The subject which not included in these three
lists and subjects like computer software that
came up after the constitution was made are
known as residuary subjects. According to our
constitution the union government has the
power to legislate on these residuary subjects.
Special status for some states-
- All states in the Indian union do not have
identical power. Some states enjoy a special
status.
- The states of north east have some special
status. Indians who are not permanent
residents of these states cannot buy land or
house here.
- Some special provisions made for other states
for their development.
Status of union territories
-There are some units of the indian union
which enjoy very little power.
-These are areas which are too small to
become an independent state but which could
not be merged with any of the existing states.
-These areas, like Chandigarh, or Lakshadweep
or the capital city of Delhi, are called union
territories.
 -These territories do not have the power of a
state.
-The central government has special powers in
running these areas.
Sharing of power between union and
state government
- This sharing of power between the union
government and the state government in
basis to the structure of the constitution.
- It is not easy to make changes to this power
sharing arrangements.
- The parliament cannot on its own change this
arrangements.
- Any change to it has to be first passed by both
the houses of parliament with at least two-
third majority.
- Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of
at least half of the total states.

ROLE OF JUDICIARY
- The judiciary plays an important role in
overseeing the implementation of
constitutional provisions and procedures.
- In case of any dispute about the division of
power, the high courts and the supreme court
make a decisions.
SOURCES OF REVENUE-
 The union and state
government have the power to raise
resources by levying taxes in order to carry on
the government and the responsibilities
assigned to each of them.
So we have seen
that all the seven key features of federalism
apply to the provisions of the Indian
constitution. We can say that India is a federal
country.

HOW IS FEDERALISM PRACTISED IN INDIA-

Constitutional provisions are necessary for the
success of federalism, but these are not
sufficient. The real success of federalism in
India can be attributed to the nature of
Democratic politics in our country. To follow
the true spirit of federalism, respect for
diversity and desire for living together should
become a shared ideal in our country.
Let us look at some of the major ways in which
these happened
Linguistic States
- The creation of linguistic states was the first
and a major test for democratic politics in our
country.
- After independence in 1947 the boundaries of
several old states were changed in order to
create new states.
- This was done to ensure that the people who
spoke the same language lived in the same
state.
- Some states were not created on the basis of
language, but to recognized differences based
on culture, ethnicity and Geography. These
include states like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and
Jharkhand.
- Some national leaders resisted the demand of
new states on the basis of language as they
thought this would lead to the disintegration
of the country.
- But later, this fear proved wrong and the
formation of linguistic states actually made
the country more united and administration
becomes more easier.
LENGUAGE POLICY
- A second test for the Indian federation in the
language policy. Our constitution did not give
the status of national language of any of the
languages.
- Though Hindi was identified as the official
language, which is mother tongue of only 40
per cent of Indians.
- The central government has not imposed
Hindi on states where people speak a different
 language. Besides languages by the Indian
constitution.
- For a central government job, candidates may
take the examination in any of these
languages by the Indian constitution.
- States too have their own official place in the
official languages. The maximum work of the
government takes place in the official
language of that concerned state.
- According to the constitution, the use of
English for official purposes was to stop in
1965. However, many non-Hindi speaking
states demanded that the use of English
continue.
- So, central government withdraw the proposal
and English along with Hindi continue for
official purposes.
Centre- state relation
- Restructuring the center state relations in one
more way in which federalism has been
strengthened in practice.
- Though Indian constitution has demarcated
the powers of the union and state
government, still the union government can
have influence over the state in many ways.
- In the past, central government many time
misused the constitution to dismiss the state
governments that were ruled by rival parties.
This undermined the spirit of federalism.
- The Indian scenario has changed
after1990.this was the beginning of the era of
coalition governments at the center.
- 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 center.
- It led to a new culture of power sharing and
respect for the autonomy of state
governments. The supreme court made it
difficult for the central governments to dismiss
state governments in an arbitrary manner.
DECENTRALISATION
When power is taken away
from central and state governments and given
to local government, it is called
decentralization.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT BEFORE 1992
- The need of decentralization was recognized
in our constitution.
- Since then, there have been several attempts
to decentralize power to the level of villages
and towns. Panchayats in villages and
municipalities in urban areas were set up in all
the states.
- But these were directly under the control of
state governments.
- Elections to these local governments were not
held regularly.
- Local governments did not have any powers or
resources of their own.
- Thus, there was little decentralization in
effective terms.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AFTER 1992
A major step towards decentralisation was
taken in 1992 by 73rd amendment. The third-
tier of democracy more powerful and
effective.
These steps are as follows:-
- Now it is continuously mandatory to hold
regular elections to local government bodies.
- Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and
the executive head of these institutions for
the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and
other backward classes.
- At least one-third of all positions are reserved
for women.
- An independent institution called the 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. This nature of sharing
varies from state to state.
PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM
- In India, rural local government is popularly
known as Panchayati Raj. Each village or a
group of villages in some states has a gram
panchayat. This is a council consisting of
several ward members called Panch and a
president called Sarpanch.
- They are directly elected by the adult
population of that ward or village. It works
under the supervision of gram Sabha.
- Gram Sabha meets at least twice or thrice in a
year to approve annual budget and review the
performance of the gram panchayat.
- A few gram panchayats are grouped together
to form a panchayat Samiti or block or
Mandal. The members of this representative
bodies are elected by all the panchayat
members in that area.
- All the panchayat samitis in a district together
constitute the Zilla Parishad.
- Most members of the Zilla Parishad are
elected.
- Moreover, members of the Lok Sabha, MLAs
of that district and some other officials of
other district level bodies are also its
members.
- Zilla Parishad chairperson is its political head.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN URBAN AREA
-local government bodies exist for urban
areas as well.
- Municipalities are set up in towns. Big
cities are constituted into municipal
corporations.
- Both municipalities and municipal
corporations are controlled by elected
bodies consisting of people
representatives.
- Municipal chairperson in the political
head of the municipality. In a municipal
corporation such an offices is called a
mayor.
This new system of local government is
the largest experiment in democracy
conducted anywhere in the world. There
are now about 36 lakh elected
representatives in the panchayats and
municipalities, etc., all over the country.
Constitutional status for local
government has helped to deepen
democracy in our country. It has also
increased women representation and
voice in our democracy.