Chapter Notes

Class 10: Social Science

Federalism

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Federalism

What is Federalism?

Federalism is the system of government in which power is

divided between a central government and various levels of
government.

Key Features of Federalism

● Power is divided between
○ Central authority
○ Other various constituents.
● Two levels of government.
○ One is the government for the entire country
responsible for common national interest.
○ Government at provincial or state levels which look
after day to day administration.
● Both levels of government enjoy independent power.

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 ● Separate jurisdiction.
● Each tier of government is constitutionally authorized.
● Courts have power to interpret the constitution.
○ The Supreme Court acts as umpire in case of dispute
among different tiers.
● Sources of revenue for each level of government are
specified to ensure financial autonomy.
● Dual objectives
○ to safeguard and promote unity of the country.
○ To accommodate regional diversity.

Balance of Power
The exact balance of power between the central and the state
government varies from one federation to another. This
balance depends mainly on the historical context in which the
federation was formed.

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Kinds of Federation
Coming Together Holding Together
Federation Federation
Independent states coming Power is divided among
together to form bigger national government and
units. constituent states.
All constituent states have Central government tends
equal power to be more powerful
Example: USA, Switzerland, Example: India, Spain,
Australia Belgium

Federal System VS Unitary System

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 Federal System
Two or more levels of
government.
No level of government is
subordinate.
Central level of government
cannot pass order to the local
government.
Unitary System
One level of government.
Sub-units are subordinate
to the central government.
Central level of government
can pass order to the local
government.

India as a federal country

● The Constitution originally provided a two tier system.
● The Constitution declared India as a Union of States.
● Three tier government .
○ Central government
○ State government
○ Municipalities and Panchayats.
● Separate jurisdiction.
● Distribution of powers between union and state
government.
○ Union List: Only the Union government can make
laws on these subjects of national importance, such
as defense of the country, foreign affairs, banking,
communications and currency etc .
○ State List: Only state government can make laws on
these subjects of State and local importance,

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 ○ such as police, trade, commerce ,agriculture and
irrigation.
○ Concurrent List : Includes subjects of common
importance such as education, forest, trade unions,
marriage, adoption and succession etc. looked after
by both the governments.

Union government has power to decide on residuary subjects

such as computer science.

India as a holding together federation

● All States in the Indian Union do not have identical power.
● Some states enjoy special status

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 ○ States such as Arunachal Pradesh enjoy special
powers under certain provisions of the Constitution of
India (Article 371) .
○ Non- permanent residents cannot buy land in these
states.
● Union Territories like Delhi , Chandigarh do not enjoy
powers of a state.

Power Sharing in India : A Rigid Arrangement

● Power Sharing : Basic Key Structure of Constitution.
● It's not easy to make changes.
● Parliament cannot make changes on it's own.
○ Any change is first passed through both the houses
of the parliament with at least ⅔ majority.
○ Then to be ratified by legislatures of atleast half of
the states.

● In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the

High Courts and the Supreme Court make a decision.

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How is federalism practiced?

Federalism is practiced in the following ways

● Linguistic States
○ First major test for democratic politics.
○ Division of states was done on two basis
■ Division of States based on the linguistic lines to
ensure that people who spoke the same language
lived in the same state.
■ Division of states to recognize culture , ethnic
and geographical differences. Example :
Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand.

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● Language Policy
○ No national level of India
○ Official language: Hindi.
○ 21 scheduled languages.
○ States have their own official languages.
○ English and Hindi are used for official purposes.

● Centre - State Relations

○ The Central Government would often misuse the
Constitution to dismiss the State Governments that
were controlled by rival parties. This undermined the
spirit of federalism.
○ The period of 1990 : Rise of regional political parties
in many States of the country. The beginning of the
era of coalition governments .
○ This led to a new culture of power sharing.
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 ■ Power Sharing strengthened centre- state
relations.
■ Promoted respect for the autonomy of State
Governments.

Decentralization in India
When power is directed to local government and is not
concentrated in the hand of state and central government it
is called decentralization.

Need for Decentralization

● Local government is the best way to realize one important
principle of democracy namely local self government.
● Problems and issues to be solved at local levels.
● Local representatives have more knowledge about the
problems of their locality.

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 ○ They have a better idea of problems faced.
○ Better idea of where to spend money.
● Helps in increasing people's participation in decision
making.

Process of Decentralization
● Panchayats in villages and municipalities
○ Set up in urban areas of all states.
○ Directly under the control of the state government
,elections to which were not held regularly.
○ Did not have any powers or resources of their own.

Major Step towards Decentralization

● Major step taken in 1992.
● Constitution amended to make the third tier powerful.
● Constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections for
third tier.
● Seats reserved in election bodies for SC/ST/OBC.
● One -third of positions reserved for women.
● Separate election commission was set up for each state.
● The State governments are required to share some powers
and revenue with local government bodies.

Panchayati Raj System

● Rural local government is popularly known by the name
panchayati raj.
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● Three-tier Panchayati Raj system:
○ Gram Panchayat
■ Council consists of several ward members, often
called panch and a president or sarpanch.
■ Directly elected by the adult population of a village
called gram sabha. .
■ Decision making body of the entire village.
■ Answerable to gram sabha which meets twice or
thrice a year.

○ Panchayat Samiti
■ Few gram panchayats are grouped together to
form what is usually called a panchayat samiti or
block or mandal.

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 ■ Elected by all the panchayat members in that area

○ Zila Parishad
■ All the panchayat samitis or mandals in a district
together constitute zila parishad.
■ Zilla parishad chairperson is the political head of
the zilla parishad.

Municipalities and Municipal Corporations

● Municipalities
○ Set up in towns.
○ Controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s
representatives.
○ Municipal chairperson is the political head of the
municipality
● Municipal corporation
○ Set up in Big cities.
○ Controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s
representatives.
○ An officer is called the mayor.

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