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• Federalism


  A system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country
• Federalism has two levels of government: the government for the entire country and governments at the level of provinces or states
• Two crucial aspects for the constitutions and practice of ederalism

  • Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of power-sharing
  • They should trust that each would abide by its part of the agreement
• What are Coming together federation?

  Independent States coming together on their own to form a bigger unit
• Holding together federations


  A large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government
• Federations are contrasted with unitary governments where the sub-units are subordinate to the central government
• Key features of federalism

  • 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
  • The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution
  • The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government
  • Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different levels of government
  • Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy
• India is based on the principles of federalism, although the Constitution did not use the word 'federation'
• Distribution of legislative powers in India

  • Union List (subjects of national importance)
  • State List (subjects of State and local importance)
  • Concurrent List (subjects of common interest to both Union and State)
• The Union Government has the power to legislate on 'residuary' subjects that do not fall in any of the three lists
• Special status of some Indian States


  These States enjoy special powers under certain provisions of the Constitution due to their peculiar social and historical circumstances
• Union Territories


  Areas which are too small to become an independent State but which could not be merged with any of the existing States
• Changes to the power sharing arrangement between the Union and States require consent of both the Houses of Parliament with at least two-thirds majority and ratification by the legislatures of at least half of the total States
• The judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional provisions on federalism
• 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 powers of a State. The Central Government has special powers in running these areas.
• This sharing of power between the Union Government and the State Governments is basic to the structure of the Constitution. It is not easy to make changes to this power sharing arrangement. The Parliament cannot on its own change this arrangement. Any change to it has to be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at least two-thirds majority. Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the total States.
• The judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional provisions and procedures. In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court make a decision.
• The Union and State Governments have the power to raise resources by levying taxes in order to carry on the government and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.
• Constitutional provisions are necessary for the success of federalism but these are not sufficient. If the federal experiment has succeeded in India, it is not merely because of the clearly laid out constitutional provisions. The real success of federalism in India can be attributed to the nature of democratic politics in our country. This ensured that the spirit of federalism, respect for diversity and desire for living together became shared ideals in our country.
• The creation of linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country. If you look at the political map of India when it began its journey as a democracy in 1947 and that of 2019, you will be surprised by the extent of the changes. Many old States have vanished and many new States have been created. Areas, boundaries and names of the States have been changed.
• In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India were changed in order to create new States. This was done to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same State. Some States were created not on the basis of language but to recognise differences based on culture, ethnicity or 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.
• 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 per cent of Indians. Therefore, there were many safeguards to protect other languages. Besides Hindi, there are 22 other languages recognised as Scheduled Languages by the Constitution.
• Unlike Sri Lanka, the leaders of our country adopted a very cautious attitude in spreading the use of Hindi. 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. In Tamil Nadu, this movement took a violent form. The Central Government responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purposes.
• For a long time, the same party ruled both at the Centre and in most of the States. This meant that the State Governments did not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units. As and when the ruling party at the State level was different, the parties that ruled at the Centre tried to undermine the power of the States.
• This period saw the rise of regional political parties in many States of the country. 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 State Governments. This trend was supported by a major judgement of the Supreme Court that made it difficult for the Central Government to dismiss state governments in an arbitrary manner.
• The latest information that we have is from the Census of India held in 2011. This census recorded more than 1300 distinct languages which people mentioned as their mother tongues. These languages were grouped together under some major languages.
• Even after this grouping, the Census found 121 major languages. Of these, 22 languages are now included in the Eighth Schedule 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.
• The largest language, Hindi, is the mother tongue of only about 44 per cent Indians. If we add to that all those who knew Hindi as their second or third language, the total number was still less than 50 per cent in 2011. As for English, only 0.02 per cent Indians recorded it as their mother tongue. Another 11 per cent knew it as a second or third language.
• 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. There is thus a need for power sharing within these States. Federal power sharing in India needs another tier of government, below that of the State governments. This is the rationale for decentralisation of power. Thus, resulted a third-tier of government, called local government.
• Decentralisation


  When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government
• The basic idea behind decentralisation is that there are a large number of problems and issues which are best settled at the local level. People have better knowledge of problems in their localities. They also have better ideas on how to solve them.
• A vast country like India cannot be run only through two-tiers of government (Central and State)
• States in India are as large as independent countries of Europe
• Many of these States are internally very diverse
• Decentralisation


  Power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government
• Rationale for decentralisation


  • There are a large number of problems and issues which are best settled at the local level
  • People have better knowledge of problems in their localities
  • People have better ideas on where to spend money and how to manage things more efficiently
  • At the local level it is possible for the people to directly participate in decision making
  • Helps to inculcate a habit of democratic participation
  • Local government is the best way to realise the principle of local self-government
• The need for decentralisation was recognised in our Constitution
• Before 1992, there was very little decentralisation in effective terms