Federalism VIDEO LINK
Revision Notes
Federalism
1. In the previous chapter, we noted that vertical division of power among different levels of government is one of the major forms of power sharing.
2. In this chapter, we focus on this form of power sharing. It is most commonly referred to as federalism.
3. We begin by describing federalism in general terms. The rest of the chapter tries to understand the theory and practice of federalism in India.
4. Towards the end of the chapter, we turn to the local government, a new and the third tier of Indian federalism.
What is federalism?
1. Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
2. Federalism has two levels of government:
a. One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a new subject of common national interest.
b. The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state.
3. Federations are contrasted with unitary governments.
4. Under the unitary system, either there is only one level of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the central.
5. In a federal system, the central government cannot order the state government to do something.
Let us look at some of the key features of federalism:
(i) There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.
(ii) Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own JURISDICTION in a specific matter of legislation, taxation and administration.
(iii) The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the Constitution.
(iv) The fundamental provisions of the Constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government.
(v) Courts have the power to interpret the Constitution and the powers of different levels of government.
(vi) Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
(vii) The federal system thus has dual objectives: to safeguard and promote the unity of the country, while at the same time accommodate regional diversities.
(viii) There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed.
a) The first route involves independent States coming together on their own to form a bigger unit so that by pooling sovereignty and retaining identity they can increase their security. This is ‘coming together’ federations.
b) The second route is where a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government. This is ‘holding together’ federations.
What makes India a federal country?
1. The constitution declared India as the Union of States.
2. The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of government, the Union Government or what we call the Central Government, representing the Union of India and the State government.
3. Later the third tier of federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and municipalities.
4. The Constitution contains three lists:
I) Union Lists includes subjects of national importance such as defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency.
II) State Lists contains subjects of States and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation.
III) Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Governments, such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession.
How is federalism practiced?
1. Constitutional provisions are necessary for the success of federalism but these are not sufficient.
2. The real success of federalism in India can be attributed to the nature of democracy politics in our country.
Linguistic States:
1. The creation of linguistic states was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country.
2. Many old States have vanished and many new States been created.
3. In 1947, the boundaries of several old states of India were changed in order to create new States.
4. This was done to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same States.
5. 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.
Language Policy:
1. The second test for Indian Federation is the language policy.
2. Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one language.
3. Hindi was identified as the official language.
4. According to the Constitution, the use of English for official purposes was to stop in 1965.
5. The central government responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purposes.
6. Promotion does not mean that the Central Government can impose Hindi on states where people speak a different language.
Centre-state relation:
1. Restructuring the centre-state relations is one more way in which federalism has been strengthened in practice.
2. In 1990 there was the rise of regional political parties in many States of the country.
3. This was also the beginning of the era of COALITION GOVERNMENT at the Centre.
4. Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had led to enter into an alliance with many parties.
5. This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of State Government.
6. Thus, federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in the early years after the Constitution came into force.
Decentralization in India:
1. We noted above that federal government has two or more tiers of government.
2. But a vast country like India cannot be run only through these two-tiers.
3. Federal power sharing in India needs another tier of government
4. This resulted in a third-tier if the government called local government.
5. When power is taken away from Central and State government, it is called decentralisation.
6. As the local level, it is possible for the people to directly participate in decision making.
7. A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992.
8. The rural local government is popularly known by the name panchayati raj.
9. This is a council consisting of several ward members, often called panch, and a president or sarpanch.
10. They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village.
11. It is the decision-making body for the entire village.
12. All the panchayat Samiti or mandals in a district together constitute the Zilla Parishad.
13. Local government bodies exist for urban areas as well.
14. Big cities are constituted into municipal corporations.
15. This new system of local government is the largest experiment in democracy conducted anywhere in the world.
NCERT Solutions
Federalism
Question 1. Locate the following States on a blank outline political map of India: Manipur, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Goa.
Answer:
Question 2. Identify and shade three federal countries (other than India) on a blank outline political map of the world.
Answer:
Explanation:25 countries of the192 countries in the world have federal political systems.
Question 3. Point out one feature in the practice of federalism in India that is similar to and one feature that is different from that of Belgium.
Answer: In India, just like in Belgium, the central government has to share its powers with the State governments. However, unlike Belgium, India does not have a communist government in addition to the central and the state government. India has rural local government popularly known as Panchayati Raj.
Question 4. What is the main difference between a federal form of government and a unitary one? Explain with an example.
Answer: In a federal form of government, the central government shares its powers with the various constituent units of the country. Both types of governments are separately answerable to the people. For example, in India, power is divided between the Central Government and the various State governments.
In a unitary form of government, all the power is exercised by only one government. In this, the Central government can pass orders to the provincial or the regional government. Under the unitary system, either there is only one level of government or sub-units are subordinate to the central government. For example, in Sri Lanka, the national government has all the powers.
Question 5. State any two differences between the local government before and after the Constitutional amendment in 1992.
Answer: A major step towards decentralization was taken in 1992. The Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective.
| Local governments Before 1992 | Local governments After 1992 |
| Elections were controlled by the state and not held regularly. Seats were not reserved in the elected bodies for women. | An independent State Election Commission is responsible to conduct panchayat and municipal elections. At least one-third of all the positions are reserved for women. |
| Local governments did not have any powers or resources of their own. These were directly under the control of state governments. | The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from state to state. |
Question 6. Fill in the blanks:
Since the United States is a ___________________ type of federation, all the constituent States have equal powers and States are ______________vis-à-vis the federal government. But India is a _____________________ type of federation and some States have more power than others. In India, the ____________ government has more powers.
Answer: The United States is a coming together type of federation, all the constituent States have equal powers and States are strong vis-à-vis the federal government. India, on the other hand, is a holding together type of federation and some of the states have more power than others. The Central government in India has more powers.
Question 7. Here are three reactions to the language policy followed in India.
Give an argument and an example to support any of these positions.
Sangeeta: The policy of accommodation has strengthened national unity.
Arman: Language-based States have divided us by making everyone conscious of their language.
Harish: This policy has only helped to consolidate the dominance of English over all other languages.
Answer: I fully agree with Sangeeta's reaction to this. If the policy of accommodation was not followed and states were not created on linguistic basis, then there would have been a further partition of India. The formation of linguistic states has actually made the country more united and has also made the administration much easier for example imposition of Hindi as the national language would have led the South to break away from North and south in Tamil Nadu would have become an independent nation. So parliament enacted the Official Language Act of 1963 which provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with Hindi, even after 1965.
Question 8. The distinguishing feature of a federal government is:
(a) National government gives some powers to the provincial governments.
(b) Power is distributed among the legislature, executive and judiciary.
(c) Elected officials exercise supreme power in the government.
(d) Governmental power is divided between different levels of government.
Answer: (d) Governmental power is divided between the different levels of government.
Explanation: The levels are the Central Government, the State Government and the Panchayati Raj.
Question 9: A few subjects in various Lists of the Indian Constitution are given here. Group them under the Union, State and Concurrent Lists as provided in the table below.
A.Defence; B. Police; C. Agriculture; D. Education; E. Banking; F. Forests; G. Communications; H. Trade; I. Marriages
| Union List | |
| State List | |
| Concurrent List |
Answer :
| Union List | Defence, Banking, Communications |
| State List | Police, Agriculture, Trade |
| Concurrent List | Education, Forests, Marriages |
Explanation: Union list includes the subjects of national importance.
State list contains the subjects of state and local importance.
Concurrent list includes the subjects of common interests to both the Union Government as well as the State Governments.
Question 10. Examine the following pairs that give the level of government in India and the powers of the government at that level to make laws on the subjects mentioned against each. Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched?
| (a) | State government | State List |
| (b) | Central government | Union List |
| (c) | Central and State government | Concurrent List |
| (d) | Local Governments | Residuary powers |
Answer :
| (d) | Local Governments | Residuary powers |
Explanation: Matters which are not included in any of the three lists are known as residuary subjects and the right to make laws on these subjects is called residuary power. The central government (the Parliament) has been given rights to legislate on these subjects.
Question 11. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists:
| List I | List II | |||
| 1. Union of India | A. Prime Minister | |||
| 2. State | Β. Sarpanch | |||
| 3. Municipal | C. Governor | |||
| 4. Gram Panchayat | D. Mayor | |||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| (a) | D | A | B | C |
| (b) | B | C | D | A |
| (c) | A | C | D | B |
| (d) | C | D | A | B |
Answer :
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| (c) | A | C | D | B |
Question 12. Consider the following two statements.
- In a federation, the powers of the federal and provincial governments are clearly demarcated.
- India is a federation because the powers of the Union and State Governments are specified in the Constitution and they have exclusive jurisdiction on their respective subjects.
- Sri Lanka is a federation because the country is divided into provinces.
- India is no longer a federation because some powers of the States have been devolved to the local government bodies.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) A, B and C
(b) A, C and D
(c) A and B only
(d) B and C only
Ans : (c) A and B only
Explanation: All levels of governance will govern the same citizens, but their jurisdiction will be different. This means that each level of government will have a specific power to form laws, legislate and execute these laws. Both of the governments will have clearly marked jurisdiction.