1. FEDERALISM

2. CONTENT 1. 2. 3.Federalism practised 4. Federal govt. example
What is federalism
Features of federalism 2.
What makes India a federal country
Union territory
3.Federalism practised
How is federalism practised?
Linguistic states
Language policy
Centre state relations
Linguistic diversity of India 4.
Decentralisation in India

3. Federal govt. example
Constitution of Belgium was to reduce the power of the central government and to give these powers to the regional governments.
Regional govt. has their roles and powers
But all these powers were given to these regional govt and could be withdrawn by central govt.
The change that took place in 1993 was that the regional govt were given constitutional powers that were no longer dependent on the central govt.
Thus belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of govt.
Srilanka continues to be, for all practical purposes, a unitary system were the national govt. has all the powers.
Tamil leaders want srilanka to become a federal system.

4. Federalism?
Federalism is a system of govt. in which the power is divided between the central authority and various constituent units of the country.
Federalism has two levels of govt.
Entire country govt.or central govt.: responsible for few subjects of common national interest
Provinces or state govt.:day to day administering of their state.
Both the govt are enjoying independent govt.

5. Federation contrasted with unitary govt.
Unitary system- either one level of govt or the sub units are subordinate to the central govt.
The central govt. can pass on order to the provincial or the local govt.
In Federal govt., central govt cannot order the state govt. to do something
State govt has power o its own for which it is not answerable to the central govt.

6. FEATURES OF FEDERALISM
There should be 2 or more level of govt.
Different tiers of govt. govern the same citizens.
Jurisdiction of the tiers of govt. are specified in the constitution.
Fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally (decision affecting only one person) changed by one level of govt.

7. The federal system thus has dual objectives:
Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different level of govt.
Sources of revenue for each level of govt. are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
The federal system thus has dual objectives:
To safeguard ad promote the unity of the country
Accommodate regional diversity.
Govt. at different level should agree to some rules of power sharing
Trust that each would abide (unable to tolerate) by its part of the agreement.
An ideal federal system has both aspects: mutual trust and agreement to live together

8. Two kinds of routes through which federation formed:
The exact balance of power between central and the state govt. varies from one federation to another
This balance depends mainly on the historical context in which the federation was formed
Two kinds of routes through which federation formed:
COMING TOGETHER FEDERATION: Independent states coming together on their own to form a bigger unit. Coming together federation. Ex. USA SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRALIA. In this all constituent states usually have equal power and are strong federal govt.
HOLDING TOGETHER FEDERATIONS: large country decides to divide its power between the constituent states and the national govt. ex. India Spain and belgium. In this the central govt. tends to be more powerful than the states. Very often different constituent units of the federation have unequal powers. Some units are granted special power.

9. INDIA IS A FEDERAL COUNTRY?
India emerged as an independent nation after a painful and bloody partition.
The constitution declared India as a union of states.
Indian union is based on the principles of federalism.
The seven features of the federalism apply to the provisions of the India Constitution.
The constitution originally provided for a two tier system of government
Union govt or central govt
State govt.
Panchayat (this third tier of govt has been added later)

10. The constitution clearly provided a three fold distribution of legislative power between the union govt and the state govt.
There are three list:
List of govt.
Union list
State list
Concurrent list

11. UNION LIST
STATE LIST
CONCURRENT LIST
1. Subject of national importance such as defense of country, foreign affairs, banking, communication and currency.
Subjects of state and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation.
Subject of common interest to both the union and state govt. such as education, forst, trade union, marriage, adoption and succession.
2.We need a uniform policy on these matter throughout the country.
If there laws conflict each other the law made by the union govt will prevail.
3. The union govt. alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the union list.
State govt alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the state list.
Both the union and state govt. can make laws on the subject mentioned in this list

12. According to our constitution the union govt has the power to legislate on the residuary subjects such as computer software.
Federation are formed by ‘holding together’ donot give equal power to its constituent units.
Thus all states in Indian union do not have identical powers.
Some state enjoy a special status
Jammu and Kashmir has its own constitution.
Indians who are not permanent residents of this state cannot buy land or house here.

13. UNION TERRITORIES
Union Territories: There are some parts of 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.
Ex: Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, Delhi
These UT don't have the powers of a state.
The central govt has special powers in running these areas

14. Sharing of power between the Union govt and State govt
Sharing of power between the Union govt and State govt. is basic to the structure of the constitution.
It is not easy to make changes to this power sharing arrangement.
Any change to it has to be passed by both the houses of parliament with at least two third majority.
The judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional provisions and procedures.
In case of any dispute about the divisions of powers, the High court and supreme court make a decision.
The union and state govt have the power to raise resources by levying taxes (collecting or imposing) in order to carry on the govt. and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.

15. How is federalism practised?
Constitutional provisions are necessary for the success of federalism but these are not sufficient.
The real success of federalism in India can be attributed to the nature of democratic politics in our country.
Spirit of federalism, respect for diversity and desire for living together became shared ideals in our country.

16. Linguistic states
The creation of linguistic states was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country.
Many old states have vanished and many new states have been created
New states created to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same states.
Some states were created not on the basis of language but to recognize differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography.
These include states like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand
The demand for the formation of states on the basis of language was raised, some national leaders feared that it would lead to disintegration (process of losing strength) of the country.
The formation of linguistic states has actually made the country, more united.

17. LANGUAGE POLICY
A second test for Indian federation is the language policy.
Our constitution didn’t give the status of national language to any one language.
Hindi was identified as the official language.
Besides Hindi there are 21 languages
A candidate in an examination conducted for the central govt. positions may opt to take the examination in any of these languages.
Unlike sri lanka, the leaders of our country adopted a very cautions attitude in spreading the use of Hindi.
According to the constitution, the use of English for official purpose was to stop in 1965.
Non Hindi speaking states demanded that the use of English continue.

18. In Tamilnadu, this movement took a violent form.
The central govt. responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purpose.
Promotion of hindi continues to be the official policy of the government of India.
Promotion does not mean that the central govt. can impose hindi on states where people speak a different language.

19. CENTRE STATE RELATIONS
Restructuring the centre-state relations is one more way in which federalism has been strengthened in practise.
The constitutional arrangements for sharing power work in reality depend to a large extent on how the ruling parties and leaders follow these arrangements.
For a long time the state govt. did not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units.
Ruling part at the state level was different, the parties that ruled at the centre tried to undermine (erode the base) the power of the states.
Central govt. would often misuse the constitution to dismiss the state govt. that were controlled by rival parties.
This undetermined the spirit of federalism.

20. All this changed significantly after 1990.
Rise of the political parties in many states of the country.
This was the beginning of the era of COALITION GOVERNMENT (a government formed by the coming together of at least two political parties. Usually partners in a coalition form a political alliance and adopt a common programme) at the centre.
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 govt. at the centre.
This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of state government.
This trend was supported by a major judgement of the supreme court that made it difficult for the central govt. to dismiss state govt. in an arbitrary (random choice) manner.
Thus federal power sharing is more effective today that it was in the early years after the constitution came into force.

21. LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY OF INDIA
According to Census of India, 2001
More than 1500 distinct languages as mother tongue.
These language grouped together under some major language. ex. Bhojpuri, magadhi, rajasthani etc.
After grouping: 114 major language- out of this 22 language has been included in 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution known as ‘schedule language’
Others language come under non schedule language
In term of language India is most diverse country in the world.
Hindi is the mother tongue of the 41% of our population.
Hindi as second language- 50%
English as mother tongue- 0.02%
English as second language- 11%

22. DECENTRALISATION IN INDIA
India cannot run with two tiers hence more than two tiers existed in India and hence it s know as federal govt.
India is as large as independent country of Europe.
In terms of population, UP is bigger than Russia
Maharashtra than Germany
Many of these state are internally diverse.
Hence power sharing is needed.
Hence for decentralisation the power there is need of another tier below the state govt.
When power is taken away from central and state govt. and given to local govt., it is called decentralisation.
Decentralisation- there are a large number of problems and issues which are best settled at the local level.
People with better knowledge of problems have better idea to spend money and manage things efficiently
This includes to inculcate a habit of democratic participation.
Local govt is the best way to realise one important principle of democracy, namely local self – govt.

23. Decentralisation need recognised in our constitution
Decentralisation need recognised in our constitution. As there were several attempts to decentralise power to the levels of village and town.
Panchayat in village, municipalities in urban
But they are directly in control of state govt.
Election for local govt will not held regularly.
Local govt. didn’t have power or resources of their own.
Hence there is very little decentralisation in effective terms.

24. Steps towards decentralization, 1992
Constitution amended to make third tier of democracy more powerful and effective.
Constitutional mandatory to hold regular election to local govt. bodies
Seats reserved for- elected bodies, executive heads of sc, st and obc
1/3rd reserved for women
State election commission- conduct- panchayat and municipal election.
State govt shares power and revenue with local govt.

25. Rural local govt is known as panchayat raj.
Each or group of village will have gram panchayat.
Council with several ward members- panch and sarpanch
Elected by all the adult population of that ward.
Panchyat works under the overall supervision of the gram sabha
Every voters are member of gram sabha
The meet happens- 2or 3 times in a year- to approve annual budget of the gram panchayat
This local govt. structure goes to district level
A few gram panchayat are grouped together to form a panchayat samiti
Members for this samiti are elected by panchayat members
All panchayat samiti in a district together constitute the zilla parishad

26. Zilla parishad members are elected- lok sabha members, MLA and other officials of other districts level
Zilla parishad chairperson is the political heads of the zilla parishad.
Big cities constitute into municipal corporation
Municipalities and municipal corporation are controlled by elected bodies representatives
Municipal chairperson is the political head of the municipality.
Municipal corporation officer- is known mayor

27. New system of local govt- largest experiment in democracy
36 lakhs elected representative- panchayat and municipalities- whole country.
This number is bigger than many countries population in world
Constitutional status for local govt. helped to deepen democracy in our country
It has increased women representation and voice in our democracy.
Same time difficulties are many.
Election not held regularly in village.
Most state govt. have not transferred significant power to the local govt nor adequate resources.
Hence we are still a long way from realising the ideal of self government.

28. END