Federalism

• Federalism is a system of goverment in which the power is divided between the central authority and various constituent units of the country
• A Feaderlasim has two levels one is the goverment for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest
• Federalism is a system of government where power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country
• A federation typically has two levels of government:

  • Government for the entire country responsible for a few subjects of common national interest
  • Governments at the level of provinces or states responsible for day-to-day administering of their state
• Both levels of government enjoy their power independently of each other
• Contrast between federations and unitary governments:
• Unitary system:

  • One level of government or sub-units are subordinate to the central government
  • Central government can pass orders to provincial or local government
• Federal system:

  • Central government cannot order the state government
  • State government has powers of its own and is not answerable to the central government
• Both governments are separately answerable to the people
• There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government
• Different tiers of government govern the same citizens
• 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
• The existence and authority of each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed
• Fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government
• Changes require the consent of both 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
• Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure financial autonomy
• The federal system aims to safeguard and promote unity of the country while accommodating regional diversity
• What is coming together federations?

  A coming together federation is a type of federation in which all the independent states come together to form a large unit of the federation.
• In coming together fedearations all the constituent states usually have equal power and are storng
• what is holding together federations?

  It is when a large country decides to divides its power between the constituent states and the national goverment. india spain belgium are the examples. the central goverment tends to be more powerful
• Union list includes subjects of national importance such as defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking communications and currency. goverment alone can make laws on this subjects
• State list contains subjects of State and local importance such as police trade commerce agriculture and irrigations. The state goverment can alone make laws on this
• Concurrent list includes subjects of common interest to both the union goverment as well as the state Goverments such as education forest trade unions marriage adoption and succession
• Union territories do not have the power of a state. The central goverment has special powers in running these areas
• The use of the English language in the workplace was prohibited in 1965
• what is called decentralization?


  when the power is taken away from the central and state governments and given to the local government it is called decentralization
• A major step towards decentralization was taken in 1992
• Rural local goverment is popularly known by the name panchayati raj
• each village or a group of villages in some states has a gram panchayat
• panchayath is a council consisting of several ward members often called panch and a president or sarpanch. They are directly elected by the adult population in that ward
• panchayat is the decision making body for the entire village
• panchayat works under over all supervison of gram sabha
• A few grams panchayats are grouped together to form what is usually called a panchayt samiti or block or mandal
• All the panchayt samitis or mandal in a district constitute the zilla parishad