Federalism
What is Federalism?
● Federalism is a system of government in which the
power is divided between a central authority and
various constituent units of the country.
● A federal system is distinct from a unitary system.
Unitary system has either one level of government or
sub units which are subordinates to the Central
Government.
Key Features of Federations
● There are two levels of government in a federation and
both enjoy independent power of each other.
● Different tiers of government govern the same citizens,
but each tier has its own jurisdiction in specific matters
of legislation, taxation and administration.
● The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot
be changed by one level of government.
● The jurisdictions of the respective levels of government are specified in the constitution. Thus, the
existence and authority of each level or tier of
government is constitutionally guaranteed.
● Judiciary prevents conflic t between centre and
regional government in the exercise of their powers.
● Sources of revenue for each level of government are
clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
● The federal system has dual objectives, i.e., to
safeguard and promote unity of the country and also
to accommodates regional diversity.
Types of Federations
● Federations are of two types: coming together
federations and holding together federations.
● USA, Switzerland and Australia has formed a federation of ‘coming together’ type while India, Spain
and Belgium by ‘holding together’ type.
● In coming together federations, all the constituent
states usually have equal power and are strong
vis-a-vis the federal government.
● In holding together federations, the Central Government
tends to be more powerful vis-a-vis the states.
What Makes India a Federal Country?
India is a federal country. The Constitution declared
India as a union of states. The Indian Union is based on
the principles of federalism.
Two-Tier System of Government
The Constitution originally provides a two-tier system of
government : the Union and the State Governments.
Three-Tier System of Government
● Later a third-tier of federalism in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities was added.
— The Constitution clearly provided a three-fold
distribution of legislative powers between the
Union Government and the State Government. It
contains three lists.
— The Union List contains subjects of national importance. Like defence, foreign affairs, banking,
communications and currency.
— State List contains subjects of state and local
importance. Like police, trade, commerce,
agriculture and irrigation.
— Concurrent List has subject of common interest
to both the Union and the State Government. Like
education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption
and succession.
● The subjects which do not include in any three lists
and subjects like computer software that came up
after the Constitution was made are known as
Residuary subject. Only Union Government can
make laws on the residuary subjects.
Power Sharing Between
Union and State Governments
● Our Constitution determines the extent of the sharing
of power between Union and State Government and it
is the basic structures of the Constitution.
● 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 provision and
procedures.
● In case of any dispute about the division of powers,
the High Courts and the Supreme Court make a
decision.
How is Federalism Practised?
Our Constitution did not give the status of national
language to any language, though Hindi and English
were identified as the official language.
Linguistic States
● The creation of linguistic states was the first and a
major test for democratic politics in our country.
● Some states were created not on the basis of
language but to recognise differences based on
culture, ethnicity or geography.
Language Policy
● Language Policy was the second test for the Indian
federation to any language.
● The Indian Constitution did not give the status of
national languages to any language.
● Hindi was identified as the official language and
besides it there are 22 scheduled languages in the
Indian Constitution.
Centre-State Relations
● Restructuring the Centre-State Relations is one more
way in which federalism has been strengthened in
practice.
● Since, no single party got a clear majority in the Lok
Sabha, major national parties had to enter into an
alliance with many parties including several regional
parties, to form a government at the centre.
● It led to a new culture of power sharing and respect
for the autonomy of State Governments.
● To follow the true spirit of federalism, respect for
diversity in our country is very necessary.
Decentralisation in India
● When power is taken away from Central and State
government and given to local government, it is
called decentralisation.
● Decentralisation was done so that a large number of
problems could be settled at the local level.
Local Government
● The local government includes panchayats in villages
and municipalities in urban areas.
● The local government includes panchayats in villages
and municipalities in urban areas whose election is
carried out by the State Election Commission.
Panchayati Raj System
● In India rural local government is popularly known as
Panchayati Raj.
● Each village or group of villages has a Gram Panchayat
which consists of several ward members (Panchs) and
a President (Sarpanch).
● Panchayat works under the supervision of Gram Sabha.
● A few Gram Panchayats are grouped together to form
a Panchayat Samiti.
Zilla Parishad
● All the Panchayat Samitis in a district together
constitute the Zilla (district) Parishad.
● The Chairperson of Zilla Parishad is its political head.
Municipalities
● Municipalities are set up in towns. In big cities
Municipal Corporations are set up. Both are controlled
by elected bodies consisting people’s representatives.
● Municipal chairperson is the political head of the
municipality. In a Municipal Corporation, the head is
known as Mayor.
Constitutional Status
for Local Government
● Constitutional status for local government has helped to
deepen democracy in our country as well.
● But most state governments have not transferred
significant powers to the local government.