Federalism

1. How is federalism practiced?

1.1. Linguistic States In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India were changed in order to create new States. This was done to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same State. Some States were created on the bases of culture, ethnicity or geography

1.2. Language policy Hindi was identified as the official language. There are 21 other languages recognised as Scheduled Languages by the Constitution. The Central Government responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purposes.

1.3. Centre-State relations After 1990, there was the beginning of the era of COALITION GOVERNMENTS at the Centre. This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of State Governments. Federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in the early years after the Constitution came into force.

2. Decentralization in India

2.1. In 1992, the Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective. Seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. There are now about 36 lakh elected representatives in the panchayats, municipalities etc.,

3. What is federalism

3.1. Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country. Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own JURISDICTION. The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government. Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified.

4. What makes India a federal country?

4.1. The Constitution clearly provided a threefold distribution of legislative powers between the Union Government and the State Governments. Union List includes subjects of national importance such as defense of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency. The State Governments can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the State List. Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Governments as well as the State Governments, such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, etc.