Subject: Political Science

Class: X
CHAPTER: FEDERALISM

Q1. Define the term ‘Federalism’.

Ans. 1. Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between central
authority and various constituent units of the country.

2. A federation has two levels of government

(a) One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a
few subjects of the common national interest

(b) The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after
much of the day – to – day administration of their state.

3. Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other. They
are separately answerable to the people. E.g. India, Russia, USA, Canada, Australia.

Q2. Compare and Contrast a unitary and federal form of government.

Ans.

BASIS UNITARY GOVENMENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

MEANING Under the Unitary system Federalism is a system of

either there is government in which the power is
only one level of divided between central authority
government or and various constituent units of the
the sub – units country.
are subordinate
to the Central
Govt.

ACCOUNTABILITY All the powers are with the State government has powers of its
Central Government. own for which it is not answerable
to the central government. Both
these governments are separately
answerable to the people.
 DELEGATION OF Central government can pass The central government cannot
POWER on orders to the provincial or order the state government to do
the local government. something.

Q3. State the key feature of federalism.

Ans. 1. There are two or more levels of government.

2. Different levels of Govt. rule the same citizens, but each level has its own jurisdiction
of legislation, taxation and administration.

3. The jurisdictions of respective levels of government are mentioned in the

Constitution. So the existence and authority of each level of government is
Constitutionally guaranteed.

4. The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one

level of Govt. Such changes require the consent of both the levels of Govt.

5. Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of different levels
of Govt. In case of any dispute, the highest court act as an umpire.

6. Sources of revenue for each level of Govt. are clearly specified to ensure its financial
autonomy.

7. The federal system has two objectives:

(a) To safeguard and promote unity of the country

(b) To accommodate regional diversity.

Q4. Differentiate between the two routes of federalism.

Ans. The two routes through which federations have been formed are:

BASIS COMING TOGETHER HOLDING TOGETHER FEDERATIONS

FEDERATIONS
Definition It involves independent States This is when a large country decides to
coming together on their own to divide its power between the constituent
form a bigger unit, so that by States and the national government.
pooling sovereignty and retaining
identity they can increase their
security.

Power All the constituent States usually
have equal power and are strong
vis-à-vis the federal government.
The central government tends to be more
powerful vis-à-vis the States. Very often
different constituent units of the
federation have unequal powers. Some
units are granted special powers.

Examples This type of ‘coming together’ India, Spain and Belgium are examples
federations include the USA, of this kind of ‘holding together’
Switzerland and Australia federations.

Q5. What make India a federal country?

Ans. 1. Three tier system:

The constitution originally provided for a two tier system of government i.e. Union
Govt. and the State Govt. Later third tier of federalism was added in the form of
Municipalities and Panchayats. These different tiers enjoy separate jurisdiction.

2. Division of Power:

The constitution demarcates the legislative powers of the central and the state
governments through three lists. They are:

(a) Union List:

• It includes subjects of national importance such as defence, foreign affairs,

banking currency, communications.

• They are included in this list because we need a uniform policy of these
matters throughout the country.

• The Union Govt. alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in
the Union lists.
 (b) State List:

• It includes matters of state and local level importance.

• The State Govt. can alone make decisions on these areas.

• They include matters like police, trade, agriculture, commerce and

irrigation.

(c) Concurrent List:

• It includes those subjects which are of common interest to both the Central
as well as State Govt.

• Both the State and Central Govt. can make laws on the subjects mentioned
in the list: marriage, trade unions, education, forest, adoption and
succession.

• If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the Central Govt. will
prevail.

(d) Residuary Subjects:

• The subjects which do not fall in any of three lists or subjects that came up
after the constitution was made are known as residuary powers e.g.
computers, Information technology etc

• The Central Govt. has been given, the power to legislate on these residuary
subjects.

3. Independent Judiciary:

(a) Judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of

constitutional provisions are procedures.

(b) In case of any dispute about division of powers, the High Courts and Supreme
Courts make a decision.

4. Separate Source of Revenue:

The Union and State Govt. have the power to raise resources by levying taxes in
order to carry on Govt. and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.

5. Constitutional Amendment:

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.

Q6. ‘All states in the Indian Union did not have identical powers.’ Support this
statement with an example.

Ans. Some states used to enjoy a special status.E.g. Jammu and Kashmir had its own
constitution. Many provisions of the Indian Constitution were not applicable to this
state without the approval of the State Assembly. Indians who are not the
permanent members of this state could not buy land or house here.

Q7. What are Union Territories?

Ans. 1. There are some units of the Indian Union which enjoy very little power. These are
areas which are too small to become independent state but which could not be
merged with any of the existing states. For example: Chandigarh, Pondicherry etc.
are called Union Territories.

2. These territories do not have the power of a State. The Central Govt. has the special
powers in ruling these areas.

Q8. Is it easy to make changes in power sharing arrangements between Centre and
State?

Ans. 1. Under a federal system the fundamental provisions cannot be unilaterally changed
by one level of Govt.

2. The parliament cannot on its own change the fundamental structure of the
constitution.

3. Any change to it has to be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at
least 2/3rd majority. Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of
the total States.
Q9. ‘The real success of federalism in India can be attributed to the nature of
democratic politics in our country.’ Elucidate the different ways in which federalism is
practiced in India.

Ans. The three major ways in which this happened are:

LINGUISTIC STATES: On what basis was the

division of Indian states
After Independence many old states have vanished and many new
made after
states have been created.
independence?
1. This was done to ensure that people who spoke the same
OR
language lived in the same state e.g. Punjab, Gujarat,
Maharashtra. ‘In 1947, the
boundaries of several
2. Some states were created not on the basis of language but
old States of India were
to recognize differences based on culture, ethnicity or
changed in order to
geography. E.g. Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
create new States’.
3. The experience has shown that the formation of linguistic
Comment.
states has actually made administration easier. The
Name the three states
formation of linguistic states has actually made the country,
of India formed on the
more united.
basis of culture,
ethnicity and
geography.

LANGUAGE POLICY: Discuss how language

policy has strengthened
1. Our constitution did not give the status of national language
federalism in India.
to anyone language.

2. Hindi was identified as the official language but it is the

mother tongue of only 40% of Indian.

3. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognized

as scheduled languages and listed in the eighth
schedule of the constitution.

4. Most of the states have their own official language

which is used for official work.

5. According to the constitution, the use of English for

official purposed was to stop in 1965, which was not
 liked by some of the States. So the Central Govt.
agreed to continue the use of English along with Hindi
as official language.

6. Promotion of Hindi continues to be the official policy of

the Govt. of India. But it does not mean that the
Central Govt. can impose Hindi on States where people
speak different language.

Hence the flexibility shown by Indian political leaders helped

in strengthening federalism in India.

CENTRE-STATE RELATIONS: Explain the Centre &

State relations in
1. The Constitutional arrangements for sharing power in
Indian federation.
reality depends to a large extent on how the ruling
parties and leaders follow these arrangements.

2. For a long time, the same party ruled both at the

Centre and in most of the states. As such the states did
not enjoy their autonomous status. When the parties
ruling the centre and the states were different, the
Central Govt. tried to undermine the power of the
states.

3. All this has changed significantly after 1990’s. Many The Centre-state
regional political parties have emerged in many states relations in India have
of India. Since no single party got a clear majority in undergone a significant
the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to enter change after 1990’s.
into an alliance with many parties and form a Govt. at Justify.
the centre i.e. coalition government.

4. This led to new culture of power sharing and respect for

the autonomy of the State governments.

5. The judiciary has played a major role in improving the

autonomy of the state Govt. because many a times it
has rescued State Govt. which were dismissed in an
arbitrary manner.

This federal power sharing is more effective today than it

was in early years after the constitution came into force.
Q10. Define the term ‘decentralization’.

Ans. When the power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local
governments, it is called decentralization.

Q11. Explain the rationale of decentralization of power in India.

Ans. 1. India is a vast country. It cannot be run only through two tiers of government
(Centre or State).

2. States in India are as large as independent countries of Europe e.g. Population of

Uttar Pradesh is bigger than Russia.

3. Many States of India are very diverse.

Thus federal power sharing in India needs another tier of government below that of the
state government i.e. local government.

Q12. Enumerate the advantages of decentralization of power.

Ans. The decentralization has following advantages:

1. Local Govt. have better Ideas

(a) The basic idea behind decentralization is that there are a large number of
problems and issues which are best settled at the local level.

(b) People have better knowledge of problems in their localities.

(c) They also have better ideas on where to spend money and how to mange
things more efficiently.

2. Direct participation of the people

(a) Decentralisation makes it possible for the people to directly participate in

decision making.

(b) This helps to inculcate a habit of democratic participation. Local Govt. is the
best way to realize one important principle of democracy namely local self
Govt.

Q13. State the differences between the local Govt. before and after the constitutional
amendment in 1992.

OR

Q13. ‘The Constitution was amended in 1992 to make the third-tier of democracy more
powerful and effective.’ Illustrate.
Ans. The local Govt. before 1992:

1. Elections to these local Govt. were not held regularly.

2. Local Govt. did not have any power or resources of their own.

The major steps towards decentralisation taken after 1992 were:

1. Now it is compulsory to hold regular elections of local Govt. bodies.

2. Seats are reserved in the elected bodies of the executive heads of these institutions
for SC, ST and OBC.

3. At least one – third of all positions are reserved for women.

4. An independent institution called State Election Commission has been created in

each state to conduct panchayat and municipal elections.

5. The State governments are required to share some power and revenue with local
Govt. bodies.

Q14. Explain the working of Gram Panchayat.

Ans. 1. Each village or a group of villages in some States has a gram Panchayat.

2. It consists of several ward members called panch and a president or sarpanch.

3. They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village.

4. Panchayat is the decision making body for the entire village.

5. It works under the supervision of the Gram Sabha.

Q15. Mention the working of the Gram Sabha.

Ans. 1. Every village has a Gram Sabha.

2. All the adults are the members of the Gram Sabha.

3. It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual budget of the
gram panchayat and review its performance.

Q16. What is Panchayat Samiti?

Ans. 1. A few gram panchayats are grouped together to form what is usually called
Panchayat Samiti or block or mandal.

2. The members of this representative body are elected by all the Panchayat members
in that area.

Q17. Give a brief account of Zila Parishad.

Ans. 1. The highest institution of Panchayati Raj in rural areas is the Zila Parishad.
 2. All the Panchayat Samitis or mandals in a district together constitute the Zila
Parishad.

3. Most members of the Zila Parshid are elected. Members of the Lok Sabha and MLA’s
of that district and some other officials of other district level bodies are also its
members.

4. Zila Parishad Chair person is the political head of Zila Parishad.

Q18. Explain the working of local self government of the urban level.

Ans. 1. Municipalities are set up in towns. Big cities are constituted into municipal
corporations.

2. Both municipalities and municipal corporations are controlled by elected bodies

consisting of people’s representatives.

3. Municipal chairperson is the political head of the municipality.

In a Municipal Corporation such an officer is called the Mayor.

Q19. Describe the difficulties faced by the local self Govt.

Ans. 1. While the elections are held regularly and enthusiastically, gram sabhas are not held
regularly.

2. Most State governments have not transferred significant powers and resources to
the local governments.