Federalism – A system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country is called Federalism.
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.
What is federalism?
The change that took place in 1993 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.
Difference 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.
Key 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.
Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
The federal system thus has dual objectives: to safeguard and promote unity of the country, while at the same time accommodate regional diversity
Jurisdiction:
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.
Two aspects, crucial for the institutions and practice of federalism:
Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of power-sharing.
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.
Balance of Power:
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 federation have been formed.
Two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed:
Coming together federations:
This type of federation exists in the USA, Switzerland and Australia.
Independent states came together on their own to form a bigger unit so that they could increase their security; while maintaining their sovereignty.
In this type of federation, the constituent states have equal power and are stronger vis-à-vis the central government.
Holding together federation:
This type of federation exists in India, Spain, Belgium, etc.
In this case, power is shared among various social groups to accommodate a huge diversity.
In this type of federation, the central government is more powerful than the state government.
Different constituents of the federation may have unequal powers.
Some units are granted special powers, e.g. the case of Jammu & Kashmir in India.
What 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.
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:
Union List
Union List includes subjects of national importance such as defense of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency.
They are included in this list because we need a uniform policy on these matters throughout the country.
The Union Government alone. can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the Union List
The union list is a list of 100 items.
State List
State List contains subjects of State and local importance such as police, trade commerce, agriculture and irrigation.
The State Governments alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the State List.
States lists contain 61 items.
Concurrent List
Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Government as well as the State Governments, such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession.
Both the Union as well as the State Governments can make laws.
If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the Union Government will prevail. Concurrent lists contain 52 items.
Residuary subjects
Those subjects which do not fall in any of the three lists, or subjects like computer software that came up after the constitution was made are included in the residuary subjects.
The Union Government has the power to legislate on these.
Special Status:
Jammu and Kashmir has its own Constitution.
Many provisions of the Indian Constitution are not applicable to this State without the approval of the State Assembly.
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.
Union Territories:
There are some units of the 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.
These areas, 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 arrangement.
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.
In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court make a decision.
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.
How 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.
Linguistic states
The creation of Linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country.
Between 1947 and 2013, 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.
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.
Centre-State relations:
Restructuring the Centre Stale 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 lederal units.
In those days, the Central Government offen 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.
Since no single party gets a dear 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 Goverments.
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
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.
Decentralisation in India:
Decentralisation – When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government, it is called decentralisation.
Rationale for decentralisation of power
A vast country like India cannot be run only through two-tiers.
States in India are as large as independent countries of Europe.
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 in turn, resulted in third-tier of government, called Local Government
Decentralisation and its need:
The basic idea behind decentralisation is that there are a large number of problems and issues which are best settled 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.
Besides, at the local level it is possible for the people to directly participate in decision making.
This helps to inculcate a habit of democratic participation Local government is the best way to realise one important principle of democracy, namely local self-government.
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
A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992. The Constitution was amended to make the third tier of democracy more powerful and effective.
Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies.
Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
At least one third of all positions are reserved for women.
An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each State to conduct panchayat and municipal elections.
The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from State to State
Rural local government:
It is popularly known by the name Panchayoti 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 panchayal.
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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 parichyat members in that area.
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.
Local government bodles 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.
Positive outcomes of local self-government:
The 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.
