POLITICS

2# FEDERALISM
Federalism Unitary Form of Government
It is a system of government in which Only one level of government.
the power is divided between a Sub units are subordinate to the
central authority and various central government.
constituent units of the country. It can pass on orders to the local
Government for the entire country government.
♕ Common national interest It is not specified in the Constitution.
Governments at the level of For example - Sri Lanka
provinces or states ♕ Different tiers of government
♕ Day-to-day administering of their govern the same citizens, but each
state tier has its own JURISDICTION in
♕ Both these levels of governments specific matters of legislation,
enjoy their power independent of the taxation and administration
other. Jurisdiction
♕ Only 25 the words 19 countries  The area over which someone
have federal political systems. has legal authority.
Belgium  The area may be defined in terms
 Belgium shifted from a unitary to a of geographical boundaries or in
federal form of government. terms of certain kinds of subjects.
 The change that took place in  Constitutionally guaranteed.
1993  The consent of both the levels of
 The regional governments were government.
given constitutional powers. ♕ The fundamental provisions of the
 No longer dependent on the constitution cannot be unilaterally
central government. changed by one level of government.
♕ Sri Lanka continues its unitary Role of Court
system. The highest court acts as an umpire if
Federal Form of Government & disputes arise between different
Unitary Form of Government levels of government in the exercise
Federal Form of Government of their respective powers.
 Two or more levels of government  Sources of revenue for each level
Different levels govern the same of government are clearly
citizens. specified to ensure its financial
 Constitutionally guaranteed. autonomy.
 The central government cannot
order the state government.
For example - India
Dual objectives of federalism democratic politics of the country.
 To safeguard and promote unity of This ensures that the spirit of
the country. federalism, respect for diversity and a
 To accommodate regional desire for living together have
diversity. become a shared ideal in our country.
Types of Federalism ♕ The Supreme Court has been
 The exact balance of power given the power to solve federal
between the central and the state disputes.
government varies from one The Constitution originally
federation to another. provided for a two tier system of
There are two kinds of routes through government.
which federations have been formed  The Union Government
Federalism.  The State Governments
 Coming Together Federalism Later, a third tier of federalism was
 Holding Together Federalism added in the form of Panchayats and
Coming Together Federalism Municipalities.
 It is formed by the Independent The powers of government have
states coming together on their been divided into three list
own.  Union List
 They Unite to strengthen their  State List
sovereignty, retain their identity  Concurrent List
and increase their security. Union List
 All states have equal power and  97 Subjects Example : Defence of
are strong vis-a-vis the central the country, Foreign affairs,
government. Banking, Communications,
 Example : USA Currency.
Holding Together Federalism  The Union Government alone can
 It is formed by a large country that make laws relating to the subjects
decides to divide its power mentioned in the Union List.
between the constituent states State List
and the national government.  66 Subjects
 The central government is more  It contains subjects of State and
powerful vis - a - vis the states. local importance.
 Often states have unequal  Police, trade, commerce,
powers. agriculture and irrigation.
 Some units are granted special Concurrent List
powers.  47 Subjects
 Example : India, Spain and  Both the union government as
Belgium. well as the state governments can
What makes India a federal make laws on following subjects
country?  Forest, trade unions, marriage,
Federalism has succeeded in India adoption and succession.
because of the nature of the
Residuary powers They are frequently regional
 Residuary powers lie with the languages or minority languages.
Centre. In such cases, only Examples: Assamese, Bengali,
Parliament has the power to make Gujarati are scheduled languages in
laws on these subjects the Indian Constitution.
 It is not a part of Concurrent List  States too have their own official
and State List. languages.
 E.g. Information technology  Much of the government work
♕ The first and a major test for takes place in the official
democratic politics in our country After language of the concerned State.
independence, the boundaries of  The Central Government
several old states were changed in responded by agreeing to
order to create new states. continue the use of English along
♕ The people who spoke the same with Hindi for official purposes.
language, share common culture,  Promotion of Hindi continues to
ethnicity or geography could live in be the official policy of the
the same state. government of India.
♕ Some states - based on culture, Central - State relation
ethnicity or geography.  Restructuring the Centre-State
Example: States like Nagaland, relations.
Uttarakhand and Jharkhand  Prior to 1990, except for once, the
♕ The second test for democratic Congress ruled at the Centre for
politics in our country. about 40 years.
-Language Policy-  These were the years when the
♕ Our Constitution did not give the single party made the
status of national language to any one government.
language.  The government at the Centre
♕ Hindi was identified as the official ruled the states with biased views.
language.  It supported in those states which
♕ But Hindi is the mother tongue of had a government formed by the
only about 40 per cent of Indians. same party.
♕ Therefore, there were many  The Rise of regional politics in
safeguards to protect other many States has changed the
languages. Centre - State relations
♕ Besides Hindi, there are 21 other significantly after 1990.
languages recognised as Scheduled  This was also the beginning of the
Languages by the Constitution. era of coalition governments at
♕ Scheduled languages are any the Centre.
languages other than the official  Since no single party got a clear
languages of a country that have majority in the Lok Sabha, the
been assigned a position in the major national parties had to enter
constitution of that country into an alliance with many parties
including several regional parties.
 Hence, regional parties do take Better Knowledge of Problems
care of their states.  People have better knowledge of
 This led to a new culture of power- problems in their localities.
sharing and respect for the  They also have better ideas on
autonomy of State Governments. where to spend money and how
 It became difficult for the central to manage things more efficiently.
government to dismiss state Main Objective of the
governments in an arbitrary Constitutional Amendment Made in
manner. 1992 in India
Categorisation of Language  To strengthen the three-tier
 Scheduled Language system of governance
 Non-Scheduled Language  i.e., make the Panchayati Raj
Scheduled Language Institution and the urban local
♕ 22 languages are now included in bodies more powerful and
the Eighth Schedule of the Indian effective.
Constitution. Five Provisions of the
Non-Scheduled Language Constitutional Amendment of 1992
 It includes those languages which  Now it is constitutionally
are not included in the 8th mandatory to hold regular
schedule. elections to Local Government
 They are not used for official bodies.
administrative purposes.  Seats are reserved in elected
Other Factors Besides Politics bodies for scheduled castes,
Keep the Federations United scheduled tribes and other
 Culture backward classes (OBCs).
 Ideology and History  At least one-third of all positions
 Culture of Trust and seats are reserved for
 Cooperation women.
 Mutual Respect and Restraint ♕ An independent institution called
Decentralisation in India the State Election Commission was
♕ When power is taken away from created to conduct Panchayat and
Central and State governments and Municipal elections.
given to local government. ♕ The State Governments are
The Basic Idea Behind required to share some powers and
Decentralisation revenue with Local Government
 Best Settlement bodies.
 Better Knowledge of Problems The Structure of the New
 Efficient Management Panchayati Raj Institutions
 Direct Participation Rural Local Government
Best Settlement Panachayati Raj/ Democratic
There are a large number of problems decentralisation.
and issues which are best settled at
the local level.
 Each village or group of villages
has a Gram Panchayat.
 Panch, President or Sarpanch are
directly elected by all the adult
population of the village and is the
decision- making body.
 The Panchayat works under the
supervision of Gram Sabha, with
all the voters as its members.
 The local structure goes up to the
district level--a group of Gram
Panchayats form a Panchayat
Samiti or Block or Mandal.
 All the Panchayat Samitis or
Mandals together constitute the
Zilla Parishad which consists of
elected members.
 Lok Sabha members, Local MLAs
and officers are also members of
the Zilla Parishad.
 Its Chairperson is the political
head of the Parishad.
Urban Areas Local Bodies
 Municipalities are set up in towns.
 Big cities are constituted into
Municipal Corporations.
 Both are controlled by elected
bodies consisting of people's
representatives.
 Municipal chairperson is the
political head of the Municipality.
 The head of Municipal
Corporation is an officer called the
Mayor.
Problems Faced by Panchayati Raj
Institutions
 Gram sabhas are not held
regularly.
 Most state governments have not
transferred significant powers to
the local governments.
 They have not given adequate
resources also