FEDERALISM Full Chapter

To understand the term Federalism let us all go back to the

power-sharing arrangement in Belgium and Sri Lanka.

IN BELGIUM IN SRI LANKA

Key changes were made in

Continues to be for all
the Constitution to curb the
practical purposes, a unitary
power of the Central Govt
system where the national
and to give powers to the
government has all the
regional govt.
powers.
The change that took place
in 1993 gave the regional
Tamil leaders want Sri Lanka
govts constitutional powers
to become a federal system.
that were no longer
dependent on the central
govt.

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

These both level enjoy their power

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

● Federal System 2 more ● Only one level of the

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

● State govt has its own ● National level

powers for which it is government has all the
not answerable to power.
centre.

● The Central govt cannot ● Central govt can pass

order the State govt to on orders to the local
do something. government.

● Government at any level ● Government at any level

are answerable to are not answerable to
people. 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

JURISDICTION the 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

different levels trust that each
should agree to would abide by its
some rules of part of the
power-sharing. agreement.
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
coming together on
to divide its power
their own to form a
between the
bigger unit.
constituent States &
the national
government.
● All the constituent
● The central
States usually have
government tends to
equal power.
be more powerful vis-
à-vis the States.
● The main aim of this
federation is to pool
● In this type of
their sovereignty &
federation, there is an
maintain their
absence of pooling
separate identity to
sovereignty &
increase their security.
maintaining identity.
● Example: USA,
● Example: India, Belgium
Australia.
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 LIST STATE LIST CONCURRENT LIST

Subjects of National
Importance: Defence of the Subjects of Common Interest:
country, foreign affairs, Subjects of State & Local Education, forest, trade unions,
banking, communications & Importance: Police, trade, marriage, adoption &
currency. commerce, agriculture & succession.
irrigation.
Why only these subjects? What happens if there is
Because we need a uniform Jurisdiction conflict between the two?
policy on these matters It differs from State to State. Law made by the Union
throughout the country. Government will prevail.
Who can make laws on these
Who can make laws on these subjects? Who can make laws on these
subjects? The State Government alone subjects?
The Union Government alone can make laws on these Both the Union as well as the
can make laws on these subjects. State Governments can make
subjects. 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
States
❖ state such
enjoys as Assam,
special power. Nagaland, Arunachal
Pradesh and Mizoram enjoy special powers
under
❖ Jammu & certain
Kashmirprovisions
has its ownof the Constitution of
Constitution.
India (Article 371) due to their peculiar social
andprovisions
❖ Many historicalofcircumstances.
the Indian Constitution are not
applicable to this State without the approval of the
These
❖ State special powers are especially enjoyed in
Assembly.
relation to the protection of land rights of
indigenous
❖ Indians who arepeoples, their culture
not permanent and
residents of also
this
preferential
State cannot buy employment
land or houseinhere.
government
services.

❖ 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 2. Then it has to be

be first passed by both ratified by the
the Houses of legislatures of at least
Parliament with at least half of the total States.
two-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
Not all Statesthe English
in India have speaking elite. Some
identical powers.
state enjoys special power.

❖
❖ Promotion of Hindi continues to be the
Jammu & Kashmir has its own Constitution.
official policy of the Government of India.
❖ Many provisions of the Indian Constitution are not
applicable to this State without the approval of the
❖ Promotion does not mean that the Central
State Assembly.
Government can impose Hindi on States
❖ Indians
where who are not
people permanent
speak residents
a different of this
language.
State cannot buy land or house 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 (%) (%)

Assamese 1.26 Manipuri 0.15

Bengali 8.03 Marathi 6.86

Bodo 0.12 Nepali 0.24

Dogri 0.21 Odia 3.10

Gujarati 4.58 Punjabi 2.74

Hindi 43.63 Sanskrit N

Kannada 3.61 Santali 0.61

Kashmiri 0.56 Sindhi 0.23

Konkani 0.19 Tamil 5.70

Maithili 1.12 Telugu 6.70

Malayalam 2.88 Urdu 4.19

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

4. This was even

3. This led to a new supported by Supreme
culture of power Court that made it
sharing & respect for difficult for the Central
the autonomy of Govt to dismiss state
State Governments. govt in an arbitrary
manner.
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
Intermediate Panchayat
● Municipal Council

● 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 ❏ Work: Overall supervision over

some States, has a gram panchayat. panchayat.

❏ Decision-making body- a council ❏ Members: All the voters of the village.

consisting of several ward members,
often called panch, and a president or ❏ Meet at least twice or thrice a year: to
sarpanch. approve the annual budget of the gram
panchayat.
❏ Members are directly elected by all the
adult population living in the ward or ❏ Review the performance of the gram
the village. panchayat.
 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 samitis or mandals in a district

together constitute the zilla (district) parishad (apex
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 While elections are held regularly and
experiment of democracy. enthusiastically, gram Sabha
elections are not regularly held.
There are now about 36 lakh elected
representatives in the panchayats Most state governments have not
and municipalities. transferred significant powers to the
local governments.
Constitutional status of local govt.
has helped deepen the democracy. Lack of adequate resources.

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