FEDERALISM

Q1. What is federalism?

Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central
authority and various constituents of the country. Federalism usually has a two levels of
government i.e. central and the state government.

Q2. How is federalism practised in India?

Constitutional provisions are necessary for the success of federalism but these are not
sufficient. The nature of democratic policies adopted by the governments from time to
time has played a vital role in making federalism successful.
a)Linguistic States: -
 After independence in 1950, the boundaries of several old states were changed
to create new states.
 This was done to ensure that people, who spoke same language, shared
common culture or geography could live in same state.
 Some national feared that this would lead to disintegration of the country and
but experience has shown that formation of linguistic states has made the
country united, stronger and made administration easier.
b)Language Policy: -
 Our constitution did not give the status of national language to any one of the
language.
 Hindi was identified as official language but central government did not impose
Hindi on the states which spoke different languages.
 Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as scheduled languages
by the constitution. Most of the states have their own official languages, which
are used in the offices.
 According to the constitution, use of English for official purposes was
discontinued in 1965 which was not liked by some states.
 So the central government agreed to continue the use of English along with
Hindi for official purposes.
 The flexibility showed by the Indian political leaders helped India to avoid the
kind of situation that Sri Lanka finds itself in.
c) Centre – State Relationships: -
 Restricting of centre – state relations has strengthened the federalism.
 For a long time, the same political party ruled at both the centre and most of the
states.
 In those days, the central government would often misuse the constitution to
dismiss the state government which was controlled by their rivalries.
 After 1990, the coalition government became common at centre i.e. no single
party got a clear majority in Lok Sabha and major national parties along with the
regional parties joined their hands together to form a government at centre. This
 led to new culture of power sharing and respect for autonomy of the state
government.
 The Supreme Court also issued judgements which made it difficult for the central
government to dismiss state government in arbitrary manner.

Q.3 What is the difference between federation and unitary governments?

Federal System
 Under the federal system there are two levels of government, one at the central
level and other at the state level. Both levels have their areas of jurisdiction.
 In federal system a state government has power of its own for which it is not
answerable to the central government.
 Central government cannot order the state government to do something.

Unitary form of government.

 But in Unitary form of government either there is only one level of government
or the sub-units are subordinate to the central government.
 On the other hand in unitary system the state government does not have power
of its own.
 The central government can pass on orders to the local government.

Q4. Distinguish between coming together federation and holding together federation.
Ans. Coming Together federations
 Under this independent states come together on their own to form a bigger unit.
 Under this, all constituent states usually have equal power.
 In coming together, units try to increase their security by pooling sovereignty and
retaining identity.
 USA, Switzerland and Australia

Holding together federations

 Under this, a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent
states and the national government.
 Under this central government tend to be more powerful.
 India, Spain and Belgium.

DECENTRALISATION IN INDIA
Ques-5 What is decentralisation?
When power is taken away from the central and state government and given it to the
local government is called decentralisation.

Q6. What is the basic idea behind decentralization?

(OR)What is the importance or need for decentralization?
  The basic idea behind decentralization is that there are a large number of
problems and issues which are best settled at the local level. People have a
better knowledge of problems in their localities.
 They also have better ideas on where to spend money, and how to manage
things more efficiently.
 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 realist one important principle of
democracy, namely the local self government.

Q.7 .How far is it correct to say that federalism works only in big countries?
Ans.A. Federalism means sharing power among the central and non-central authorities.

B. It works in big countries where the area of country is very large and it makes it
difficult to be effectively managed through only one level of government.

C. In Such cases different levels of the government are formed to have broad based
participation of the people.

D. Small countries with cultural and ethnic variation, federalism accommodates all
diversities.

Q. 8 .Explain how power is shared among different organs of the government.

Ans.A. Union List: Subjects of national importance like defence, foreign affairs, atomic
energy, banking, post and telegraph are included in the Union List. Only the central
government can pass laws on the subjects mentioned in the union list because we need
a uniform policy on important or national issues throughout the country. The union list
has 97 subjects.

B. State List: It comprises those important subjects on which the state government can
pass laws. Subjects like police, local government, trade and commerce, agriculture are
within the state included in the State list. The state list has 66 subjects

C. Concurrent List: The concurrent list comprises the subjects which are of common
concern both to the centre and state government. Both the centre and state
governments can frame laws on these subjects. However if there is a conflict between
the central law and state law, over a subject in the Concurrent list, the central law would
be effective. The concurrent list has 47 subjects.

D. Residuary Powers: Matters which are not included in the division of powers such as
IT are known as residuary powers. It was felt that there can be subjects which are not
mentioned in either of these lists. The central government has been given the power to
legislate on the residuary subjects.