federalism.pdf

Federalism Overview Chapter 2 In the previous chapter, we noted that vertical division of power among different l...

Federalism Overview Chapter 2 In the previous chapter, we noted that vertical division of power among different levels of government is one of the major forms of power-sharing in modern democracies. In this chapter, we focus on this form of power- sharing. It is most commonly referred to as federalism. We begin by describing federalism in general terms. The rest of the chapter tries to understand the theory and practice of federalism in India. A discussion of the federal constitutional provisions is followed by an analysis of the policies and politics that has strengthened federalism in practice. Towards the end of the chapter, we turn to the local government, a new and third tier of Indian federalism. Federalism 2024-25 13 Chapter 2.indd 13 08-04-2022 12:30:48  What is federalism? Let us get back to the contrast to be, for all practical purposes, a between Belgium and Sri Lanka unitary system where the national that we saw in the last chapter. You government has all the powers. would recall that one of the key Tamil leaders want Sri Lanka to changes made in the Constitution become a federal system. of Belgium was to reduce the Federalism is a system of power of the Central Government I am confused. government in which the power is and to give these powers to the What do we divided between a central authority regional governments. Regional call the Indian and various constituent units of the governments existed in Belgium government? Is it country. Usually, a federation has even earlier. They had their roles Union, Federal or and powers. But all these powers two levels of government. One is the Central? were given to these governments government for the entire country and could be withdrawn by the that is usually responsible for a Central Government. The change few subjects of common national that took place in 1993 was that the interest. The others are governments regional governments were given at the level of provinces or states constitutional powers that were that look after much of the day- no longer dependent on the central to-day administering of their state. government. Thus, Belgium shifted Both these levels of governments from a unitary to a federal form of enjoy their power independent of government. Sri Lanka continues the other. Federal political systems Germany Russia Canada Belgium Austria Switzerland United States of America Spain Bosnia and Pakistan Herzegovina St. Kitts India Mexico and Nevis Nigeria Pacific Ocean United Venezuela Arab Ethiopia D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s Emirates Atlantic Comoros Malaysia Pacific Ocean Brazil Ocean Indian Ocean Micronesia Australia Argentina South Africa Source: Montreal and Kingston, Handbook of Federal Countries: 2002, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002. Though only 25 of the world’s 193 countries have federal political systems, their citizens make up 40 per cent of the world’s population. Most of the large countries of the world are federations. Can you notice an exception to this rule in this map? 2024-25 14 Chapter 2.indd 14 08-04-2022 12:30:50  In this sense, federations are 7 The federal system thus has dual contrasted with unitary governments. objectives: to safeguard and promote Under the unitary system, either unity of the country, while at the there is only one level of government same time accommodate regional or the sub-units are subordinate to diversity. Therefore, two aspects the central government. The central are crucial for the institutions and government can pass on orders to the practice of federalism. Governments provincial or the local government. at different levels should agree to If federalism But in a federal system, the central some rules of power-sharing. They works only in government cannot order the state should also trust that each would big countries, government to do something. State abide by its part of the agreement. why did Belgium government has powers of its own An ideal federal system has both adopt it? for which it is not answerable aspects : mutual trust and agreement to the central government. Both to live together. these governments are separately answerable to the people. The exact balance of power between the central and the state Let us look at some of the key government varies from one features of federalism : federation to another. This balance 1 There are two or more levels (or depends mainly on the historical tiers) of government. context in which the federation was 2 Different tiers of government formed. There are two kinds of routes govern the same citizens, but through which federations have been each tier has its own jurisdiction formed. The first route involves in specific matters of legislation, independent States coming together taxation and administration. on their own to form a bigger unit, 3 The jurisdictions of the respective so that by pooling sovereignty and levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution. So the retaining identity, they can increase existence and authority of each tier their security. This type of ‘coming of government is constitutionally together’ federations include the guaranteed. USA, Switzerland and Australia. In 4 The fundamental provisions this first category of federations, all of the constitution cannot be the constituent States usually have unilaterally changed by one level of equal power and are strong vis-à-vis government. Such changes require the federal government. the consent of both the levels of The second route is where a government. large country decides to divide its 5 Courts have the power to power between the constituent interpret the constitution and States and the national government. the powers of different levels of India, Spain and Belgium are government. The highest court examples of this kind of ‘holding Jurisdiction: The acts as an umpire if disputes arise together’ federations. In this second area over which between different levels of category, the Central Government Federalism someone has legal government in the exercise of their tends to be more powerful vis-à- authority. The area respective powers. vis the States. Very often different may be defined in terms of geographical 6 Sources of revenue for each level constituent units of the federation boundaries or in terms of government are clearly specified have unequal powers. Some units of certain kinds of to ensure its financial autonomy. are granted special powers. subjects. 2024-25 15 Chapter 2.indd 15 08-04-2022 12:30:50  Some Nepalese citizens were discussing the proposals on the adoption of federalism in their new constitution. This is what some of them said: Khag Raj: I don’t like federalism. It would lead to reservation of seats for different caste groups as in India. Sarita: Ours in not a very big country. We don’t need federalism. Babu Lal: I am hopeful that the Terai areas will get more autonomy if they get their own state government. Ram Ganesh: I like federalism because it will mean that powers that were earlier enjoyed by the king will now be exercised by our elected representatives. If you were participating in this conversation, what would be your response to each of these? Which of these reflect a wrong understanding of what federalism is? What makes India a federal country? What makes India a federal country? in the form of Panchayats and We have earlier seen how small Municipalities. As in any federation, countries like Belgium and Sri Lanka these different tiers enjoy separate face so many problems of managing jurisdiction. The Constitution diversity. What about a vast country clearly provided a three-fold like India, with so many languages, distribution of legislative powers religions and regions? What are between the Union Government the power sharing arrangements in and the State Governments. Thus, our country? it contains three lists: Let us begin with the Constitution.  Union List includes subjects India had emerged as an independent of national importance, such as nation after a painful and bloody defence of the country, foreign Isn’t that partition. Soon after Independence, affairs, banking, communications strange? Did several princely states became a part and currency. They are included our constitution of the country. The Constitution in this list because we need a makers not declared India as a Union of States. uniform policy on these matters know about Although it did not use the word throughout the country. The Union federalism? Or federation, the Indian Union is based Government alone can make laws did they wish on the principles of federalism. relating to the subjects mentioned to avoid talking in the Union List. Let us go back to the seven about it?  State List contains subjects features of federalism mentioned D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s above. We can see that all these of State and local importance, features apply to the provisions such as police, trade, commerce, of the Indian Constitution. The agriculture and irrigation. The State Constitution originally provided Governments alone can make laws for a two-tier system of government, relating to the subjects mentioned the Union Government or what in the State List. we call the Central Government,  C o nc ur r ent List includes representing the Union of India subjects of common interest to and the State governments. Later, both the Union Government as a third tier of federalism was added well as the State Governments, such 2024-25 16 Chapter 2.indd 16 08-04-2022 12:30:52  as education, forest, trade unions, There are some units of the marriage, adoption and succession. Indian Union which enjoy very little Both the Union as well as the State power. These are areas which are Governments can make laws on too small to become an independent the subjects mentioned in this list. State but which could not be merged If their laws conflict with each with any of the existing States. other, the law made by the Union These areas, like Chandigarh, or If agriculture and Government will prevail. Lakshadweep or the capital city of commerce are What about subjects that do not Delhi, are called Union Territories. state subjects, fall in any of the three lists? Or subjects These territories do not have the why do we have like computer software that came up powers of a State. The Central ministers of after the constitution was made? Government has special powers in agriculture and According to our constitution, the running these areas. commerce in the Union Government has the power to This sharing of power between Union cabinet? legislate on these ‘residuary’ subjects. the Union Government and the State We noted above that most Governments is basic to the structure federations that are formed by of the Constitution. It is not easy to ‘holding together’ do not give equal make changes to this power sharing power to its constituent units. Thus, arrangement. The Parliament cannot all States in the Indian Union do not on its own change this arrangement. have identical powers. Some States Any change to it has to be first passed enjoy a special status. States such by both the Houses of Parliament as Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal with at least two-thirds majority. Pradesh and Mizoram enjoy special Then it has to be ratified by the powers under certain provisions of legislatures of at least half of the the Constitution of India (Article total States. 371) due to their peculiar social The judiciary plays an important and historical circumstances. These role in overseeing the implementation special powers are especially enjoyed of constitutional provisions and in relation to the protection of procedures. In case of any dispute land rights of indigenous peoples, about the division of powers, the their culture and also preferential High Courts and the Supreme Court employment in government services. make a decision. The Union and Indians who are not permanent State Governments have the power residents of this State cannot buy to raise resources by levying taxes in land or house here. Similar special order to carry on the government provisions exist for some other States and the responsibilities assigned to of India as well. each of them. Listen to one national and one regional news bulletin broadcast by All India Federalism Radio daily for one week. Make a list of news items related to government policies or decisions by classifying these into the following categories:  News items that relate only to the Central Government,  News items that relate only to your or any other State Government,  News items about the relationship between the Central and State Governments. 2024-25 17 Chapter 2.indd 17 08-04-2022 12:30:53   Pokharan, the place where India conducted its nuclear tests, lies in Rajasthan. Suppose the Government of Rajasthan was opposed to the Central Government’s nuclear policy, could it prevent the Government of India from conducting the nuclear tests?  Suppose the Government of Sikkim plans to introduce new textbooks in its schools. But the Union Government does not like the style and content of the new textbooks. In that case, does the state government need to take permission from the Union Government before these textbooks can be launched?  Suppose the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa have different policies on how their state police should respond to the naxalites. Can the Prime Minister of India intervene and pass an order that all the Chief Ministers will have to obey? D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s 2024-25 18 Chapter 2.indd 18 08-04-2022 12:30:55  How is federalism practised? Constitutional provisions are If you look at the political map of necessary for the success of federalism India when it began its journey as a but these are not sufficient. If the democracy in 1947 and that of 2019, federal experiment has succeeded you will be surprised by the extent in India, it is not merely because of of the changes. Many old States have the clearly laid out constitutional vanished and many new States have provisions. The real success of been created. Areas, boundaries federalism in India can be attributed and names of the States have been to the nature of democratic politics changed. in our country. This ensured that In 1947, the boundaries of several the spirit of federalism, respect old States of India were changed in for diversity and desire for living order to create new States. This was together became shared ideals in our done to ensure that people who country. Let us look at some of the spoke the same language lived in major ways in which this happened. the same State. Some States were created not on the basis of language Linguistic States but to recognise differences based The creation of linguistic States on culture, ethnicity or geography. was the first and a major test for These include States like Nagaland, democratic politics in our country. Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.  Has your village / town / city remained under the same State since Independence? If not, what was the name of the earlier Federalism State?  Can you identify names of three States in 1947 that have been changed later?  Identify any three States which have been carved out of bigger States. 2024-25 19 Chapter 2.indd 19 08-04-2022 12:31:02  When the demand for the think that this solution favoured the formation of States on the basis of English-speaking elite. Promotion language was raised, some national of Hindi continues to be the official leaders feared that it would lead to policy of the Government of India. the disintegration of the country. Promotion does not mean that the The Central Government resisted Central Government can impose linguistic States for some time. Hindi on States where people speak But the experience has shown that a different language. The flexibility the formation of linguistic States shown by Indian political leaders has actually made the country helped our country avoid the kind of more united. It has also made situation that Sri Lanka finds itself in. administration easier. Centre-State relations Language policy Restructuring the Centre-State A second test for Indian federation is relations is one more way in which the language policy. Our Constitution federalism has been strengthened did not give the status of national in practice. How the constitutional language to any one language. Hindi arrangements for sharing power was identified as the official language. work in reality depends to a large Why Hindi? But Hindi is the mother tongue of extent on how the ruling parties and Why not only about 40 per cent of Indians. leaders follow these arrangements. Bangla or Therefore, there were many safeguards For a long time, the same party Telugu? to protect other languages. Besides ruled both at the Centre and in most Hindi, there are 22 other languages of the States. This meant that the recognised as Scheduled Languages State Governments did not exercise by the Constitution. A candidate in their rights as autonomous federal an examination conducted for the units. As and when the ruling party Central Government positions may at the State level was different, the opt to take the examination in any parties that ruled at the Centre tried of these languages. States too have to undermine the power of the their own official languages. Much States. In those days, the Central of the government work takes Government would often misuse place in the official language of the the Constitution to dismiss the State concerned State. Governments that were controlled Unlike Sri Lanka, the leaders by rival parties. This undermined of our country adopted a very the spirit of federalism. cautious attitude in spreading the All this changed significantly use of Hindi. According to the after 1990. This period saw the D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s Constitution, the use of English rise of regional political parties in for official purposes was to stop in many States of the country. This Coalition government: 1965. However, many non-Hindi was also the beginning of the era A government formed speaking States demanded that the of coalition governments at the by the coming together of at least two political use of English continue. In Tamil Centre. Since no single party got a parties. Usually Nadu, this movement took a violent clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the partners in a coalition form. The Central Government major national parties had to enter form a political alliance responded by agreeing to continue into an alliance with many parties and adopt a common the use of English along with Hindi including several regional parties to programme. for official purposes. Many critics form a government at the Centre. 2024-25 20 Chapter 2.indd 20 19/03/2024 10:40:43  The States Plead for More Powers © Kutty - Laughing with Kutty Perils of Running a Coalition Government © Ajith Ninan - India Today Book of Cartoons Here are two cartoons showing the relationship between Centre and States. Should the State go to the Centre with a begging bowl? How can the leader of a coalition keep the partners of government satisfied? Are you suggesting that Federalism This led to a new culture of Central Government to dismiss state power sharing and respect for the governments in an arbitrary manner. regionalism is autonomy of State Governments. Thus, federal power sharing is more good for our This trend was supported by a effective today than it was in the democracy? Are major judgement of the Supreme early years after the Constitution you serious? Court that made it difficult for the came into force. 2024-25 21 Chapter 2.indd 21 08-04-2022 12:31:05  + Linguistic diversity of India How many languages do we have  Make a bar or pie chart on in India? The answer depends the basis of this information. on how one counts it. The latest  Prepare a map of linguistic information that we have is from diversity of India by shading the Census of India held in 2011. the region where each of these This census recorded more than languages is spoken on the map 1300 distinct languages which of India. people mentioned as their mother  Find out about any three tongues. These languages were languages that are spoken in grouped together under some India but are not included in major languages. For example, this table. languages like Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Rajasthani and many others were grouped together under ‘Hindi’. Scheduled Languages of India Even after this grouping, Language Proportion of the Census found 121 major speakers (%) languages. Of these, 22 Assamese 1.26 languages are now included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Bengali 8.03 Constitution and are therefore Bodo 0.12 called ‘Scheduled Languages’. Dogri 0.21 Others are called Gujarati 4.58 ‘non-Scheduled Languages’. In Hindi 43.63 terms of languages, India is Kannada 3.61 perhaps the most diverse country Kashmiri 0.56 in the world. Konkani 0.19 A look at the enclosed table Maithili 1.12 makes it clear that no one Malayalam 2.88 language is the mother tongue of Manipuri 0.15 the majority of our population. Marathi 6.86 The largest language, Hindi, is the Nepali 0.24 mother tongue of only about 44 per cent Indians. If we add to that Odia 3.10 all those who knew Hindi as their Punjabi 2.74 D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s second or third language, the total Sanskrit N number was still less than 50 per Santali 0.61 cent in 2011. As for English, only Sindhi 0.23 0.02 per cent Indians recorded it as their mother tongue. Another Tamil 5.70 11 per cent knew it as a second or Telugu 6.70 third language. Urdu 4.19 Read this table carefully, but N — Stands for negligible. you need not memorise it. Just do Source: http://www.censusindia.gov.in the following: 2024-25 22 Chapter 2.indd 22 08-04-2022 12:31:05  ‘ Read the following excerpts from an article by noted historian, Ramachandra Guha, that appeared in the Times of India on November 1, 2006: ‘ Federalism Take the example of your own state or any other state that was affected by linguistic reorganisation. Write a short note for or against the argument given by the author here on the basis of that example. 2024-25 23 Chapter 2.indd 23 08-04-2022 12:31:16  Decentralisation in India We noted above that federal power to the level of villages and governments have two or more towns. Panchayats in villages and tiers of governments. We have municipalities in urban areas were so far discussed the two-tiers of set up in all the States. But these government in our country. But were directly under the control of a vast country like India cannot state governments. Elections to these be run only through these local governments were not held So, we are like a two-tiers. States in India are as large as regularly. Local governments did three-tier coach independent countries of Europe. In not have any powers or resources of in a train! I terms of population, Uttar Pradesh their own. Thus, there was very little always prefer the is bigger than Russia, Maharashtra decentralisation in effective terms. lower berth! is about as big as Germany. Many A major step towards decentra- of these States are internally very lisation was taken in 1992. The diverse. There is thus a need for Constitution was amended to make power sharing within these States. the third-tier of democracy more Federal power sharing in India needs powerful and effective. another tier of government, below  Now it is constitutionally that of the State governments. This mandatory to hold regular elections is the rationale for decentralisation to local government bodies. of power. Thus, resulted a third- tier of government, called local  Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of government. these institutions for the Scheduled When power is taken away from Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Central and State governments and Backward Classes. given to local government, it is called decentralisation. The basic idea behind  At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women. decentralisation is that there are a large number of problems and issues which  An independent institution are best settled at the local level. People called the State Election Commission have better knowledge of problems has been created in each State to in their localities. They also have conduct panchayat and municipal better ideas on where to spend money elections. and how to manage things more  The State governments are efficiently. Besides, at the local level required to share some powers and it is possible for the people to directly revenue with local government D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s participate in decision making. This bodies. The nature of sharing varies helps to inculcate a habit of democratic from State to State. participation. Local government is the Rural local government is best way to realise one important popularly known by the name principle of democracy, namely local panchayati raj. Each village, or a self-government. group of villages in some States, has The need for decentralisation a gram panchayat. This is a council was recognised in our Constitution. consisting of several ward members, Since then, there have been often called panch, and a president several attempts to decentralise or sarpanch. They are directly 2024-25 24 Chapter 2.indd 24 08-04-2022 12:31:16  elected by all the adult population the zilla (district) parishad. Most living in that ward or village. It is members of the zilla parishad are the decision-making body for the elected. Members of the Lok Sabha entire village. The panchayat works and MLAs of that district and some under the overall supervision of the other officials of other district level gram sabha. All the voters in the bodies are also its members. Zilla village are its members. It has to parishad chairperson is the political meet at least twice or thrice in a year head of the zilla parishad. to approve the annual budget of the Prime Minister Similarly, local government gram panchayat and to review the runs the country. bodies exist for urban areas as performance of the gram panchayat. Chief Minister well. Municipalities are set up in runs the state. The local government structure towns. Big cities are constituted Logically, then, the goes right up to the district level. A into municipal corporations. Both chairperson of Zilla few gram panchayats are grouped municipalities and municipal Parishad should together to form what is usually corporations are controlled run the district. called a panchayat samiti or block by elected bodies consisting of Why does the or mandal. The members of this people’s representatives. Municipal D.M. or Collector representative body are elected by all chairperson is the political head of administer the the panchyat members in that area. the municipality. In a municipal district? All the panchayat samitis or mandals corporation, such an officer is called in a district together constitute the mayor. Federalism What do these newspaper clippings have to say about efforts of decentralisation in India? 2024-25 25 Chapter 2.indd 25 08-04-2022 12:31:18  + An experiment in Brazil A city called Porto Alegre in Brazil has carried out an extraordinary experiment in combining decentralisation with participative democracy. The city has set up a parallel organisation operating alongside the municipal council, enabling local inhabitants to take real decisions for their city. The nearly 13 lakh people in this city get to participate in making the budget for their own city. The city is divided into many sectors or what we call wards. Each sector has a meeting, like that of the gram sabha, in which anyone living in that area can participate. There are some meetings to discuss issues that affect the entire city. Any citizen of the city can participate in those meetings. The budget of the city is discussed in these meetings. The proposals are put to the municipality that takes a final decision about it. About 20,000 people participate in this decision making exercise every year. This method has ensured that the money cannot be spent only for the benefit of the colonies where rich people live. Buses now run to the poor colonies and builders cannot evict slum-dwellers without resettling them. In our own country, a similar experiment has taken place in some areas in Kerala. Ordinary people have participated in making a plan for the development of their locality. This new system of local increased women’s representation government is the largest experiment and voice in our democracy. At in democracy conducted anywhere the same time, there are many in the world. There are now about difficulties. While elections are 36 lakh elected representatives in held regularly and enthusiastically, the panchayats and municipalities gram sabhas are not held regularly. etc., all over the country. This Most state governments have not number is bigger than the population transferred significant powers to the of many countries in the world. local governments. Nor have they Constitutional status for local given adequate resources. We are government has helped to deepen thus still a long way from realising democracy in our country. It has also the ideal of self-government. D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s Find out about the local government in the village or town you live in. If you live in a village, find out the names of the following: your panch or ward member, your sarpanch, your panchayat samiti, the chairperson of your zilla parishad. Also find out when did the last meeting of the gram sabha take place and how many people took part in that. If you live in urban areas, find out the name of your municipal councillor, and the municipal chairperson or mayor. Also find out about the budget of your municipal corporation, municipality and the major items on which money was spent. 2024-25 26 Chapter 2.indd 26 08-04-2022 12:31:19  1. Locate the following States on a blank outline political map of India: Manipur, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh and Goa. 2. Identify and shade three federal countries (other than India) on a blank outline political map of the world. 3. Point out one feature in the practice of federalism in India that is similar to and one feature that is different from that of Belgium. 4. What is the main difference between a federal form of government and a unitary one? Explain with an example. 5. State any two differences between the local government before and after the Constitutional amendment in 1992. 6. Fill in the blanks: Since the United States is a ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________ type of Exercises federation, all the constituent States have equal powers and States are ______________vis-à-vis the federal government. But India is a _____________________ type of federation and some States have more power than others. In India, the ____________ government has more powers. 7. Here are three reactions to the language policy followed in India. Give an argument and an example to support any of these positions. Sangeeta: The policy of accommodation has strengthened national unity. Arman: Language-based States have divided us by making everyone conscious of their language. Harish: This policy has only helped to consolidate the dominance of English over all other languages. 8. The distinguishing feature of a federal government is: (a) National government gives some powers to the provincial governments. (b) Power is distributed among the legislature, executive and judiciary. (c) Elected officials exercise supreme power in the government. (d) Governmental power is divided between different levels of government. 9. A few subjects in various Lists of the Indian Constitution are given here. Group them under the Union, State and Concurrent Lists as provided in the table below. A. Defence; B. Police; C. Agriculture; D. Education; E. Banking; F. Forests; G. Communications; H. Trade; I. Marriages Federalism Union List State List Concurrent List 2024-25 27 Chapter 2.indd 27 08-04-2022 12:31:20  10. Examine the following pairs that give the level of government in India and the powers of the government at that level to make laws on the subjects mentioned against each. Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched? (a) State government State List (b) Central government Union List (c) Central and State governments Concurrent List (d) Local governments Residuary powers 11. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists: List I List II Exercises 1. Union of India A. Prime Minister 2. State B. Sarpanch 3. Municipal Corporation C. Governor 4. Gram Panchayat D. Mayor 1 2 3 4 (a) D A B C (b) B C D A (c) A C D B (d) C D A B 12. Consider the following two statements. A. In a federation, the powers of the federal and provincial governments are clearly demarcated. B. India is a federation because the powers of the Union and State Governments are specified in the Constitution and they have exclusive jurisdiction on their respective subjects. C. Sri Lanka is a federation because the country is divided into provinces. D. India is no longer a federation because some powers of the States have been devolved to the local government bodies. Which of the statements given above are correct? (a) A, B and C (b) A, C and D (c) A and B only (d) B and C only D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s 2024-25 28 Chapter 2.indd 28 08-04-2022 12:31:21