FEDERALISM Full Chapter

To understand the term Federalism let us all go back to the power-sharing

arrangement in Belgium and Sri Lanka.

IN IN SRI
BELGIUM LANKA
Key changes were made in the
Continues to be for all practical
Constitution to curb the power of the
purposes, a unitary system where the
Central Govt and to give powers to
national government has all the
the regional govt.
powers.
The change that took place in 1993
gave the regional govts constitutional
powers that were no longer
Tamil leaders want Sri Lanka to
dependent on the central govt.
become a federal system.
Thus, Belgium shifted from a unitary
to a federal form of government.
 WHAT IS FEDERALISM?

Federalism is a system of government in

which the power is divided between a
central authority & various constituent
units of the country.
 Federation has two level of
Government

CENTRE
GOVERNMENT STATE/
PROVINCIAL
Government for entire GOVERNMENT
country. Usually,
Government that look
responsible for few
after much of the day-
subjects of common
to-day administering of
national interest.
their state.

These both level enjoy their power

independent of the other.
 Federal System of Unitary System of
Government Government

● Federal System 2 more levels ● Only one level of the

of government. government or subunits are
subordinate to the central
government.

● State govt has its own powers ● National level government has
for which it is all the power.
not answerable to
centre.

● The Central govt cannot order ● Central govt can pass on orders
the State govt to do something. to the local government.

Government at any level are Government at any level are

● answerable to people. ● not answerable to the people.

● Example: India, USA. ● Example: Sri Lanka,

China.
FEATURES OF FEDERALISM
1 There are two or more levels (or tiers) of
. government.

Central
Government

State
Government

Local Self- Government

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

3. The jurisdictions of each level are specified in the

JURISDICTION constitution. Thus, existence & authority of each tier is
Constitutionally guaranteed.
The area over which someone has legal
authority. The area may be defined in terms
of geographical boundaries or in terms of
certain kinds of subjects.
4. 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.
5. Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the
power of different levels of government. The highest courts acts
as an umpire if dispute arise between different levels of the
government in the exercise of their respective powers.

6. Financial Autonomy is ensured: Sources of revenue for

each level of government are clearly specified.
6. Dual objectives:

-To safeguard and promote unity of the

country;

-To accommodate regional diversity.

 An Ideal Federal System

Agreement to live
Mutual Trust
together

Governments at They should also trust

different levels that each would abide
should agree to some by its part of the
rules of power- agreement.
sharing.
TYPES OF FEDERATION
● 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.

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

COMING HOLDING
TOGETHER TOGETHER
FEDERATION FEDERATION
Coming Together Federation
Holding Together Federation
●Independent States
●Large country decides to divide its
coming together on
power
their own to form a
between the
bigger unit.
constituent States &
the national
government.
● All the constituent States
●The central
usually have equal power.
government tends to
be more powerful vis-
The main aim of this
à-vis the States.
● federation is to pool their
sovereignty & maintain their
●In this type of
separate identity to increase
federation, there is an
their security.
absence of pooling
sovereignty &
Example: USA, Australia.
maintaining identity.
●
●Example: India, Belgium
WHAT MAKES INDIA A
FEDERAL COUNTRY?
❖ India had emerged as an independent nation after a
painful & bloody partition.

❖ Soon after Independence, several princely states

became a part of the country.

The Constitution declared India as a Union of States.

❖
Word federation not used- but the Indian Union is
based on the principles of federalism.
❖
What do you understand by Vertical division of power?

When power is shared among governments at

different levels i.e. the Union or the Central
government, the state government and the
Municipality and Panchayat at the lower level.
This division of power involving higher and
lower levels of government is called the vertical
division of power.
CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT

STATE GOVERNMENT

MUNICIPALITY

GRAM
PANCHAYAT
If we consider the features of federalism, studied above, all of
them applies to our country.

1. Initially, there was 2-tier system.

2. Later, a third-tier was added- Panchayats &

Municipalities.

3. Different tier enjoy separate jurisdiction.

4. The Constitution also clearly lays down three-fold

distribution of legislative powers.
 UNION STATE CONCURRENT
LIST LIST LIST
Subjects of National Importance:
Defence of the country, foreign affairs, Subjects of Common Interest: Education,
banking, communications & currency. Subjects of State & Local forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption
Importance: Police, trade, commerce, & succession.
Why only these subjects? Because we agriculture & irrigation.
need a uniform policy on these matters What happens if there is
throughout the country. Jurisdiction conflict between the two?
It differs from State to State. Law made by the Union Government will
Who can make laws on these subjects? prevail.
The Union Government alone can Who can make laws on these
make laws on these subjects. subjects? Who can make laws on these subjects?
The State Government alone can Both the Union as well as the State
make laws on these subjects. Governments can make laws.
 RESIDUARY SUBJECTS

Subjects: The subjects not covered in those three-list fall under

this.

Example: Computer Software, e-commerce, etc.

Who can make laws on these subjects?

The Union Government has the power to legislate.

Union List has a total of 97 subjects.

State List has a total of 66 subjects.

Concurrent List has a total of 47 subjects.

 ❖ Not all States in India have identical powers. Some state
enjoys special status.
❖ ❖ Not all States in India have identical powers. Some state
States
enjoys such as
special Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and
power.
Mizoram enjoy special powers under certain provisions of
❖ the Constitution
Jammu & Kashmir of hasIndia (Article
its own 371) due to their peculiar
Constitution.
social and historical circumstances.
❖ Many provisions of the Indian Constitution are not applicable
These
to this special
State powers
without are especially
the approval of theenjoyed in relation to the
State Assembly.
❖ protection of land rights of indigenous peoples, their culture
and also
Indians preferential
wh are employment
nt prmanent in this
residnts of government services.
State cannot buy
❖ land or house here.
Indians who are not permanent residents of this State cannot
buy land or house here.

❖
● There are some units of the Indian Union which enjoy very
little power.

● These are too small to become an independent State but

which could not be merged with any of the existing States.

Example: Chandigarh, or Lakshadweep or the capital city

● of Delhi, are called Union Territories.

These territories do not have the powers of a State. The

Central Government has special powers in running these
● areas.
HOW TO MAKE CHANGES TO
THIS POWER SHARING
ARRANGEMENT?
Sharing of power between the Union Government & the State
governments is basic to the structure of the
Constitution.

The Parliament cannot on its own change this

arrangement.

There are 2 steps to make changes:

1. Any change to it has to be first 2. Then it has to be ratified

passed by both the Houses of by the legislatures of at least
Parliament with at least two- half of the total States.
thirds majority.
 Role of Judiciary

● Overseeing the implementation of constitutional

provisions & procedure.

● Dispute about division of power- Settled by High Court &

Supreme Court.

● The High Court stands at the head of state’s judicial

administrations.
 Where does the government get the money to
do welfare in state?

● The Union & State governments have the power to

raise resources by levying taxes.

● This helps them to carry out their responsibility.

HOW IS FEDERALISM
PRACTISED?
 The success of federalism
❏ Constitutional provisions are necessary for the success of
federalism but these are not sufficient.

The real success of federalism in India- Nature of

❏ democratic politics in our country. This ensured :

the spirit of federalism;

● respect for diversity;

desire for living together became shared ideals in our

country.
●

●
 LINGUISTIC STATES

Creation of Linguistic States was the first & major test of democratic
politics.

Since 1947- 2020, number of old states vanished & new states were
created.

This was done to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in
the same State.

Some states were created on the basis of culture, ethnicity &

geography.

These include States like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.

❏ When the demand for the formation of States on the basis
of language was raised, some national leaders feared that it
would lead to the disintegration of the country.

❏ The Central Government resisted linguistic States for

some time. But the experience has shown that the
formation of linguistic States has actually made the
country, more united.

❏ It has also made administration easier.

 Linguistic 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 Hindi is the mother
tongue of only about 40% of Indians.

Therefore, there were many safeguards to protect

other languages. Thus, we have 2 official languages :
HINDI AND ENGLISH
 Besides Hindi, the Indian constitution recognizes
21 languages as Scheduled Languages. In total,
22.

Of these, Hindi was considered the official language of

the country.

The Constitution does not recognize anyone language as

the national language.
 A candidate in an examination conducted for the
Central Government positions may opt to take the
examination in any of languages recognised by the
Constitution.

States too have their own official languages.

Much of the government work takes place in the official

language of the concerned State.
 Case of 1965

According to the Constitution, the use of English for official

purposes was to stop in 1965.

Many non-hindi speaking States demanded that the

use of English continue.

In Tamil Nadu, this movement took a violent form.

Result- The Central Government agreed to continue the

use of English along with Hindi for official purposes
 ❖ Many critics think that this solution favoured the
❖ NotEnglish speaking
all States in India elite.
have identical powers. Some state enjoys
special power.
❖ Promotion of Hindi continues to be the official policy
❖ Jammu & Kashmir has its own Constitution.
of the Government of India.
❖ Many provisions of the Indian Constitution are not applicable to
this State without the approval of the State Assembly.
❖ Promotion does not mean that the Central Government
can impose
Indians Hindi
who are not on States
ermanent where
residents people
of this speak buy
State cannot a
❖ landdifferent
or house language.
here.

❖ The flexibility shown by Indian political leaders

helped our country avoid the kind of situation that Sri
Lanka finds itself in.
Scheduled Languages of
India
 Language Proportion of Language Proportion of Speakers (%)
Speakers (%)
0.15
Assamese 1.26 Manipuri
6.86
Bengali Bodo 8.03 Marathi
0.24
Dogri 0.12 Nepali
3.10
Gujarati 0.21 Odia
2.74
Hindi 4.58 Punjabi
N
Kannada 43.63 Sanskrit
0.61
Kashmiri 3.61 Santali
0.23
Konkani 0.56 Sindhi
5.70
Maithili 0.19 Tamil
6.70
Malayalam 1.12 Telugu
4.19
2.88 Urdu
 CENTRE STATE RELATION

Restructuring the Centre-State relations can strengthen

federalism in practice.

For a long time, one party ruled both the Centre & in most States.

This meant that the State govt. did not exercise their rights as
autonomous federal units.

The Centre tried to undermine the power of the States which was ruled
by different party.

In those days, the Central Government would often misuse the

Constitution to dismiss the State governments that were controlled by
rival parties. This undermined the spirit of federalism.
 Beginning of the era of
Coalition Government

2. Since, no single party got a

clear majority in the Lok Sabha,
1. After 1990: Rise of the major national parties had
regional political parties to enter into an alliance with
in many States of the many parties including several
country. Era of Coalition regional parties to form a govt
Government began at the at the Centre.
Centre.

4. This wasbyeven
supported Supreme
Court that
difficult formade it
the Central
3. This led to a new culture Govt to an
dismiss state
of power sharing & respect govt in arbitrary
for the autonomy of State manner.
Governments.
DECENTRALIZATION IN
INDIA
● A vast nation as India cannot run only through two-
tiers.

● States in India are highly populated and are

internally very diverse. There is thus a need for
power-sharing within these States.

This is the rationale for

● decentralisation of power. Thus, resulted a third-tier
of government, called local government.
When power is taken away from Central &
State governments and given to local
government, it is called decentralisation.
 UNION GOVERNMENT

STATE GOVERNMENT

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Urban Areas Rural Areas

District Panchayat
● Municipal Corporation

Municipal Council
Intermediate Panchayat
●
Nagar Panchayat

Village Panchayat
The Basic Idea Behind Decentralisation

● Large no. of issues & problem are best solved at the local level.

People have better knowledge of problems in their localities.

●
They also have better ideas on where to spend money and how to
manage things more efficiently.
●
At the local level there is direct participation of people in
decision making, which helps to inculcate a habit of democratic
● participation.

Local government is the best way to realise local self-

government.
 Condition Before 1992

❏ Several attempts were made to decentralise power to the level

of villages and towns.

❏ Panchayats in villages & municipalities in urban areas were set

up in all the States, but were directly under the control of State
Govt.

❏ Elections to these local governments were not held regularly.

Local governments did not have any powers or resources of

❏ their own.

Thus, there was very little decentralisation in effective terms.

❏
A major step towards decentralisation was taken
in 1992. The Constitution
was amended to make the third-tier of democracy
more powerful and effective.
1. Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections
to local government bodies.

2. Seats are reserved in the elected bodies & the executive

heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes & Other Backward Classes.

3. At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.

4. An independent institution called the State Election

Commission has been created in each State to conduct
panchayat & municipal elections.

5. The State governments are required to share some powers

and revenue with local government bodies.
 Rural Local Government or Panchayati Raj

GRAM PANCHAYAT GRAM SABHA

❏ Each village, or a group of villages in some States, ❏ Work: Overall supervision over panchayat.
has a gram panchayat.
Members: All the voters of the village.
❏ Decision-making body- a council consisting of ❏
several ward members, often called panch, and a Meet at least twice or thrice a year: to approve the
president or sarpanch. ❏ annual budget of the gram panchayat.

Members are directly elected by all the adult Review the performance of the gram panchayat.
❏ population living in the ward or the village.
❏
 Panchayat Samiti & Zila Parishad

A few panchayat are grouped together to form a panchayat

samiti or block or mandal.

The members of this representative body are elected

by all the panchayat members in that area.

All the panchayat

together constitute samitis orparishad
the zilla (district) mandals(apex
in a district

body at district level).

Most members of the zilla parishad are elected.

Members: MPs, MLAs & all other officials of the

district.
 Local Government Bodies in Urban Areas

❏ Municipalities are set up in towns.

❏ Municipal corporations constituted in big cities.

Both municipalities & municipal corporations-

❏ controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s
representatives.

Municipal chairperson is the political head of the

❏ municipality.

Municipal corporation head called Mayor.

❏
 CONCLUSION

MERITS OF DECENTRALISATION DEMERITS OF

DECENTRALISATION

Local government is the largest experiment of While elections are held regularly and
democracy. enthusiastically, gram Sabha elections are not
regularly held.
There are now about 36 lakh elected
representatives in the panchayats and Most state governments have not transferred
municipalities. significant powers to the local governments.

Constitutional status of local govt. has helped Lack of adequate resources.

deepen the democracy.
Hence, there is a long way to achieve the ideals
Women’s representation & voice has increased. of local self-government.
IN-CHAPTER CARTOONS
The States Plead for More Powers Perils of Running a Coalition Government
NCERT QUESTIONS