Federalism

"The vertical division of power among various organs of government is referred to as federalism. In this chapter we will try to understand the theory and practice of federalism in India."

1.0Introduction

Federalism is a system of government where power is divided between a central authority and constituent political units. In India, this system is known as cooperative federalism. Here are some key points to remember about federalism : (i) India is a federal country with a written constitution that divides powers between the central government and the state governments. (ii) The Constitution of India provides for a three-tier system of government, which includes the central government, state governments, and local governments. (iii) The Constitution specifies the powers of each level of government, and also provides for a mechanism to resolve disputes between them. (iv) The principle of federalism is enshrined in the Constitution through various provisions, such as the division of powers, the creation of a bicameral legislature, and the establishment of an independent judiciary. (v) The Constitution also provides for a system of financial transfers between the central government and the state governments, to ensure that all regions of the country have access to resources and opportunities. Overall, federalism in India is a complex system that balances the need for a strong central government with the recognition of the importance of local autonomy and diversity. Understanding this system is essential for anyone interested in the functioning of Indian democracy.

2.0What is federalism?

The change that took place in 1993 in Belgium was that the regional governments were given constitutional powers that were no longer dependent on the central government. Thus, Belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of government. Sri Lanka continues to be, for all practical purposes, a unitary system where the national government has all the powers. Tamil leaders want Sri Lanka to become a federal system.

Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country. Usually, a federation has two levels of government. One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest. The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state. Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other.

Though only 25 of the world's 193 countries have federal political systems, their citizens make up 40 per cent of the world's population. Most of the large countries of the world are federations.

3.0Difference between unitary and federal government

Under the unitary system, either there is only one level of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the central government. The central government can pass on orders to the provincial or the local government. But in a federal system, the central government cannot order the state government to do something. State government has powers of its own for which it is not answerable to the central government. Both these governments are separately answerable to the people.

4.0Key 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 in specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration.
• 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, it requires the consent of both the 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 in the exercise of their respective powers.
• Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
• The federal system thus has dual objectives: (i) To safeguard and promote unity of the country, (ii) To accommodate regional diversity.

5.0Two aspects, crucial for the institutions and practice of federalism

(i) Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of power-sharing. (ii) They should also trust that each would abide by its part of the agreement.

An ideal federal system has both aspects: mutual trust and agreement to live together.

6.0Two routes through which federation have been formed.

The exact balance of power between the central and the state government varies from one federation to another. Based on the historical context in which the federation was formed, there are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed.

7.0What makes India a federal country?

The Constitution declared India as a Union of States. Although it did not use the word federation, the Indian Union is based on the principles of federalism.

The Indian Constitution in Article 1 describes the country as 'Union of States' although its Constitution is federal in nature why?

The Constitution of India describes India as the Union of States. It is because our Constitution gives powers to both Centre as well as State, yet more power lies with the Centre. After independence, India, as it is now, was formed by the decision of the princely states, who decided to join India. Therefore, India is known as Union of States. According to Dr B R Ambedkar, the phrase 'Union of States' has been preferred to 'Federation of States' for two following reasons: The Indian federation is not the result of an agreement among the states, like the American Federation. The states have no right to secede(Separate) from the federation.

Features of federalism apply to the provisions of the Indian Constitution. The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of government, the Union Government or the Central Government, representing the Union of India and the State governments. Later, a third tier of federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities. As in any federation, these different tiers enjoy separate jurisdiction. The Constitution clearly provided a three-fold distribution of legislative powers between the Union Government and the State Governments. Thus, it contains three lists:

(a) Union List

(b) State List

(c) Concurrent List

Those subjects which do not fall in any of the three lists, or subjects like computer software that came up after the constitution are included in the 'residuary' subjects. The Union Government alone has the power to legislate on these.

Most federations that are formed by 'holding together' do not give equal power to its constituent units. Thus, all States in the Indian Union do not have identical powers. Some States enjoy a special status. States such as Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram enjoy special powers under certain provisions of the Constitution of India (Article 371) due to their peculiar social and historical circumstances. Indians who are not permanent residents of this State cannot buy land or house here. Similar special provisions exist for some other States of India as well.

There are areas which are too small to become an independent State but which could not be merged with any of the existing States 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 power sharing arrangement. Any change to it has to be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at least twothirds majority. Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the total States.

In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court decide. 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.

8.0How is federalism practiced?

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 a shared ideal in our country.

(a) Linguistic states

The creation of Linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country. Between 1947 and 2019, in India 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.

• Doubts related to creation of states on linguistic basis 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.

(b) Language 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. Hindi is the mother-tongue of only about 40% Indians. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as Scheduled Languages 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. 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. The flexibility shown by Indian political leaders helped our country avoid the kind of situation that Sri Lanka finds itself in.

9.0Centre-State relations

Restructuring the Centre-State relations is one more way in which federalism has been strengthened in practice. 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. In those days, the Central Government often misuse the Constitution to dismiss the State governments that were controlled by rival parties. This undermined the spirit of federalism.

All this changed significantly after 1990. This period saw the rise of regional political parties in many states of a country. This was the beginning of the new era of coalition government. Since no single party gets 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. Thus, federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in the early years after the Constitution came into force.

Linguistic diversity of India

Scheduled languages of India

Read the following excerpts from an article by noted historian, Ramachandra Guha, that appeared in the Times of India on November 1, 2006:

"The report of the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), was implemented exactly 50 years ago, on November 1, 1956. This, in its own time and own way, has also transformed the political and institutional life of the nation. ... Gandhi and other leaders promised their followers that when freedom came, the new nation would be based on a new set of provinces, these based on the principle of language. However, when India was finally freed in 1947, it was also divided...

Partition was the consequence of a primordial attachment to one's faith; how many more partitions would that other primordial loyalty, language, lead to? So ran the thinking of Nehru, Patel and Rajaji.

Far from undermining Indian unity, linguistic states have helped strengthen it. It has proved to be perfectly consistent to be Kannadiga and Indian, Bengali and Indian, Tamil and Indian, Gujarati and Indian. To be sure, these states based on language sometimes quarrel with one another.

While these disputes are not pretty, they could in fact have been far worse.

It is the formation of linguistic states that has allowed India to escape what might have been a worse fate still. If the sentiments of the native speakers of Telugu, Marathi, et. al. had been disregarded, what we might have here was: 'One language: 14 or 15 nations'."

10.0Decentralisation in India

A vast country like India cannot be run only through two-tiers. 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 and it's need

The need for decentralisation was recognised in our Constitution. Since then, there have been several attempts to decentralise power to the level of villages and towns. Panchayats in villages and municipalities in urban areas were set up in all the States. But these were directly under the control of state governments. 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. (i) Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies. (ii) Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. (iii) At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women. (iv) An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each State to conduct panchayat and municipal elections. (v) The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from State to State.

11.0Rural local government

It is popularly known by the name Panchayati Raj. Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a gram panchayat, a council consisting of several ward members, often called panch, and a president or sarpanch. They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village. It is the decision-making body for the entire village. The panchayat works under the overall supervision of the gram sabha. All the voters in the village are its members. It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual budget of the gram panchayat and to review the performance of the gram panchayat. (a) Local government at the block level A few gram panchayats are grouped together to form what is usually called a panchayat samiti or block or mandal. The members of this representative body are elected by all the panchayat members in that area.

(b) Local government at the district level All the panchayat samitis or mandals in a district together constitute the Zilla (district) Parishad. Most members of the Zilla Parishad are elected. Members of the Lok Sabha and MLAs of that district and some other officials of other district level bodies are also its members. Zilla Parishad chairperson is the political head of the Zilla Parishad.

(c) Local government bodies for urban areas Municipalities are set up in towns. Big cities are constituted into municipal corporations. Both municipalities and municipal corporations are controlled by elected bodies consisting of people's representatives. Municipal chairperson is the political head of the municipality. In a municipal corporation such an officer is called the mayor.

12.0Positive outcomes of local self-government

This new system of local government is the largest experiment in democracy conducted anywhere in the world. There are now about 36 lakh elected representatives in the panchayats and municipalities etc., all over the country. This number is bigger than the population of many countries in the world. Constitutional status for local government has helped to deepen democracy in our country. It has also increased women's representation and voice in our democracy.

At the same time, there are many difficulties. While elections are held regularly and enthusiastically, gram sabhas are not held regularly. Most state governments have not transferred significant powers to the local governments. Nor have they given adequate resources. We are thus still a long way from realising the ideal of self-government.

13.0Glossary

• Jurisdiction - The area over which someone has legal authority. The area may be defined in terms of geographical boundaries or in terms of subject
• Coalition government - A government formed by coming together of at least two political parties.
• Tier system - It is the system which signifies levels of government. It may be two levels or two tiers and three levels or three tiers.
• Coming together federation - It is a type of federation in which independent states come together on their own to form a bigger unit, so that by pooling, sovereignty and retaining identity they can increase this security.
• Holding together federation - It is such a federation in which a large country decides to divide its power between the Constituent States and the National Government.
• List system - Its states the distribution of powers or subjects through the list like Union List for central/Union level, state list for state level, etc. It is specific feature of Indian federalism.
• Residuary subjects - They are the left over subjects which do not fall in any one of the three list. On the residuary subjects only the Union Government can legislate example: computer, software and internet.
• Linguistic state - The creation of states on the basis of languages is known as linguistic state. Linguistic state recognizes differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography.
• Scheduled language - Languages which are listed in the list of schedule of the constitution of India are known as the scheduled languages.
• Non schedule languages - Apart from schedule languages, the languages which are not listed in the schedule of the constitution are known as the non schedule languages.
• Decentralization - When power is taken away from central and state governments and given to local government, it is called decentralization. This concept helps to inculcate a habit and culture of democratic participation at the Grass root level.
• Unitary System - "Unitary System" is a system of government in which either there is only one level of government or sub units are subordinate to the central government.
• Union List - It is the list given under the jurisdiction of Union government. It includes the subjects or matters of national importance like defence, finance, external affairs, currency, etc. Union government alone can make laws on the Union government alone can make laws on the Union List subjects.
• State List - "State List" is given under the jurisdiction of State Government. It includes the subjects or matters of state and local importance. State Government alone can make laws on the state list subjects.

14.0MIND MAP