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| Source - Jilrijs |
The federalism in India is a result of historical growth and its roots can be traced back to the various Government of India acts passed by the British administration. The British administration though had initiated centralized policies since 1773, soon encountered difficulties. Faced with the reality of the situation as early as 1861 legislative powers were given to the provinces and by the Indian Act of 1919, the ‘nation-building’ subjects of education, health, agriculture, irrigation, and public works were devolved to the provincial legislatures, together with the appropriate financial ways and means.
In 1930, the Simon Commission considered the efficiency of federation as a means of mitigating the Hindu- Muslim conflicts and coping with the problem of more than five hundred princely states; while the subsequent round table conferences revealed widespread support for federal solution. Finally, the Government of India Act, of 1935 prescribed a federal-type union of autonomous provinces whose governments were to derive their powers directly from the crown.
Nature Of Indian Federalism: Article 1 of the Indian constitution declares India i.e. Bharat shall be a “union of states”. Although the term ‘federal’ is not used in the constitution of India, the basic structure of the governance is federal. The nature of Indian federalism is different from other federal models. In the Indian constitution, there there is a unique blend of federalism and Unitarianism because as the Indian constitution possesses all the essential characteristics of federalism, the unitary spirits of the constitution are also very prominent. The happy blend of features both led to scholars describing the Indian federation as ‘quasi-federal’ or ‘semi–federal’. K.C. Where, a well-known British scholar describes India as “a unitary state with subsidiary federal principles rather than a federal state with subsidiary unitary principles.”
Charles Alexandrowicz argues that India is a true federation although, like all other federations, it has distinctive characteristics- and that it is misleading to refer as a quasi federation.
Sir Ivor Jennings feels that “India has a federation, with strong centralizing tendency”. W.H. Morris Jones held the view that Indian federalism was a kind of ‘cooperative federalism’ where bargaining took place between the center and the states, but ultimately a solution came out and both agreed to cooperate. Unitary Features: The striking unitary features are dominant in the constitution of India. The provisions incorporated in the Indian constitution leading towards Unitarianism are; Unlike other federations, the Indian constitution has the right to change the boundaries and name of the states according to articles 2 and 3.
The appointment of governor as the constitutional head of the state by the president of India and he holds office during his pleasure. The governor has the authority to perform his functions without being responsible to state authorities. The presence of a powerful governor indicates the strong position of the center. There is a provision for single citizenship in India.
The strong centralized tendency of the Indian constitution is very obvious by the provision in the constitution article 249 that by passing a resolution supported by not less than 2/3 majority of its members, the items of the state list can be transferred to the union list for one year, empowering the center to make laws on that particular subject.
The units or the states do not have a right to secede from the center. In the 16th amendment of the constitution in 1963, it was made clear that the states have a right to express the demand but not the power to secede.
No equal representation of states in the legislature. The allocation of seats in the lower house depends upon the population of the units.
The amending procedure in India is very rigid and favors union. The emergency provisions of the Indian constitution can easily transform India into a unitary system at the time of war or breakdown of constitutional machinery.
FEDERAL FEATURES
The most important characteristic of Indian federalism is that the constitution is supreme. No state even the center does not have a right to change the provisions regarding the power of governance enshrined in it.
Two levels of government central and state and both are autonomous and independent in their functioning.
India has a written constitution and all the provisions of the functioning of the government are divided between the center and units through the constitutional mechanism of division of power for the smooth functioning of the government at both levels. Center–state Relations: In India, there is a formal division of legislative, administrative, and financial powers between the center and states to maintain a healthy balance of working relationship and cooperation between the two. As the constitution declares India a “union of states”, there is a strong tilt towards union while distributing all areas of relations between them. Legislative Relations: In India, there is a threefold distribution of legislative powers between the union and the states. [art.246)] The Government of India Act, of 1935, introduced a scheme of threefold enumeration, namely, federal, provincial, and concurrent. The constitution adopts this scheme from the act of 1935 by enumerating possible subjects of legislation under three legislative lists in sch.VII of the constitution.
3 Union List: The union list has 100 items upon which the center has the authority to legislate and the units do not have any right to intervene in it. The matters of national interest or common interests of both allocated in the union lists such as defense, military, and air force, foreign affairs, atomic energy, war and peace, citizenship, railways, currency, banking, union public service commission, all India services, etc.
State List: The state list consists of 66 items upon which the state legislature has the power to make laws and the center is debarred to intervene in this. The subjects in this list include matters such as public order, police including railway police, prison, public health, forests, fisheries, agriculture, education, local governments, etc. The selection of these items is made based on local interests.
Concurrent List: The concurrent list consists of 52 items including matters related to criminal law, criminal procedure, marriages and divorce, trade, electricity, trade union economic and social palling, etc. In case of overlapping of a matter between the three lists, predominance has been given to the union, as under the Government of India Act, 1935. In the concurrent sphere, in the case of repugnancy between a union and a state law relating to the same subject, the former prevails. If, however, the state law was reserved for the assent, the state law may prevail notwithstanding such repugnancy, but it would still be competent for parliament to override such state law by subsequent legislation [Art. 254(2)].
4 Residuary Powers: Unlike other federal states like the United States and Switzerland, The residuary power rests with the center in India. Besides vesting residuary power in the union, the union parliament is authorized to take up for legislation by itself any matter enumerated in the state list, whenever the council of states resolved by a 2/3 majority, that such legislation is necessary or expedient in the national interests. (Article 249). No emergency is necessary for the assumption of the state power by parliament.
Written by - Visha Jain
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