FEDERALISM

• The USSR broke up into several countries in 1989. The reasons for the breaking up are excessive centralization and concentration of power and the domination of Russia over other regions with independent languages and cultures of their own.
• Canada came very close to a break-up between the English-speaking and the French-speaking regions of the country. In 1958, the Federation of the West Indies came into being. It had a weak central government and the economy of each unit was independent.
• These features and political competition among the units led to the formal dissolution of the federation in 1962.
• In 1973 by the Treaty of Chiguaramas, the independent islands established joint authorities in the form of a common legislature, a Supreme Court, a common currency and to a degree, a common market known as the Caribbean Community.
• It has even a common executive and heads of the governments of member countries are members of this executive.
• In India, there are more than 20 major languages and several hundred minor ones.
• It is home to several major religions and millions of indigenous people living in different parts of the country.
• Despite all these diversities, we share a common landmass, participated in a common history and fought for independence.
• India is described as unity with diversity. Federalism does not consist of a set of fixed principles, which are applied, to different historical situations. It is a principle of government that has evolved differently in different situations.
• American federalism- one of the first major attempts to build a federal polity- is different from German or Indian federalism.

1. Few key ideas and concepts are associated with federalism

• Essentially, federalism is an institutional mechanism to accommodate two sets of polities.
• One at the regional level and the other at the national level
• Each government is autonomous in its sphere.
• In some federal countries, there is even a system of dual citizenship.
• India has only single citizenship.
• The people likewise, have two sets of identities and loyalties- they belong to the region as well as the nation.
• Each level of the polity has distinct powers and responsibilities and has a separate system of government.
• A dual system of government is generally spelt out in a written constitution, which is considered to be supreme and which is also the source of the power of both sets of government.
• Certain subjects, which concern the nation as a whole, for example, defence or currency are the responsibility of the central government.
• Regional or local matters are the responsibility of the state or regional governments.
• To prevent conflicts between the centre and the state, there is an independent judiciary to settle disputes.
• The judiciary resolves disputes between the central and states on legal matters about the division of power.

Real politics, ideology, culture and history determine the actual working of a federation. A culture of trust, cooperation, mutual respect and restraint helps federations to function smoothly. Political parties also determine the way a constitution would work. If any single unit or state linguistic group or ideology comes to dominate the entire federation leads to a dominant voice and results in civil wars.

2. Federalism in Nigeria

• If the regions and various communities do not trust each other, even a federal arrangement can fail to produce unity.
• Northern and Southern Nigeria were two spate British Colonies till 1914.
• At the Ibadan Constitutional Conference of 1950 Nigerian leaders decided to form a federal constitution.
• Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa- Fulani are three major ethnic groups of Nigeria controlled by the regions of the west, The East and the North respectively.
• Their attempt to spread their influence to other regions led to fears and conflicts. These led to a military regime.
• In the 1960 constitution, both federal and regional governments jointly controlled the Nigerian police.
• Military-supervised constitution of 1979, no state was allowed to have any civil police.
• Democracy was restored in 1999.
• Religious differences along with conflicts over who will control and control revenues from the oil resources continue to present problems before the Nigerian Federation.
• Local ethnic communities resist centralized control of oil resources.
• Nigeria is an example of the overlap of religious, ethnic and economic differences among the units.

3. Federalism in the Indian Constitution

• Even before Independence, most leaders of our national movement were aware that to govern a large country like ours.
• It would be necessary to divide the powers between provinces and the central government.
• Indian society has regional diversity and linguistic diversity.
• This diversity needed recognition.
• People of different regions and languages had to share power and in each region, the people of that region should govern themselves.
• Given the agitation of the Muslim League for greater representation of the Muslims, a compromise formula to give very large powers to the regions was discussed during the negotiations before Partition.
• The Constituent Assembly decided to frame a government that would be based on the principles of unity and cooperation between the centre and the States and separate powers to the States.
• The Indian Constitution adopted the principle that relations between the States and the centre would be based on cooperation.
• Thus, while recognizing diversity, the Constitution emphasized unity.

Article 1: (1) India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.

(2) The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule.

Division of powers

• There are two sets of governments created by the Constitution.
• One for the entire nation is a union government (central government) and one for each state is called a state government.
• Both of these have constitutional status and identified the area of activity.
• The disputes about the powers come under the control of the union and which under the states can be resolved by the Judiciary based on the constitutional provisions.
• The constitution demarcates subjects, between the union and the states.
• Economic and financial powers are centralized in the hands of the central government by the constitution. The stats have vast responsibilities but very restricted revenue sources.

Federalism with a Strong Central Government

• The Indian Constitution has created a strong central government.
• India is a country of continental dimensions with immense diversities and social problems.
• The framers of the Constitution believed that we required a federal constitution that would accommodate diversities.
• They wanted to create a strong centre to stem disintegration and bring about social and political change.
• There were more than 500 princely states which had to be integrated into existing states or new states had to be created.
• The makers of the constitution also believed that the socio-economic problems of the country needed to be handled by a strong central government in cooperation with the states.

The important provisions that create a strong Central Government

• The very existence of a State including its territorial integrity is in the hands of Parliament.
• The Parliament is empowered to ‘form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States...’
• It can also alter the boundary of any State or even its name.
• The Constitution provides for some safeguards by way of securing the view of the concerned State legislature.
• The Constitution has certain very powerful emergency provisions, which can turn our federal polity into a highly centralised system once the emergency is declared.
• During an emergency, power becomes lawfully centralized.
• Parliament also assumes the power to make laws on subjects within the jurisdiction of the States.
• Even during normal circumstances, the central government has very effective financial powers and responsibilities.
• In the first place, items generating revenue are under the control of the central government.
• Thus, the central government has many revenue sources and the States are mostly dependent on the grants and financial assistance from the centre.
• Secondly, India adopted planning as the instrument of rapid economic progress and development after independence.
• Planning led to considerable centralisation of economic decision-making.
• The planning commission appointed by the union government is the coordinating machinery that controls and supervises the resources management of the States.
• Besides, the Union government uses its discretion to give grants and loans to States.
• This distribution of economic resources is considered lopsided and has led to charges of discrimination against States ruled by an opposition party.
• As you will study later, the Governor has certain powers to recommend the dismissal of the State government and the dissolution of the Assembly.
• Besides, even in normal circumstances, the Governor has the power to reserve a bill passed by the State legislature, for the assent of the President.
• This allows the central government to delay the State legislation and also to examine such bills and veto them completely.
• There may be occasions when the situation may demand that the central government needs to legislate on matters from the State list.
• This is possible if the move is ratified by the Rajya Sabha.
• The Constitution clearly states that the executive powers of the centre are superior to the executive powers of the States.
• Furthermore, the central government may choose to give
• Instructions to the State government.

• The all-India services are common to the entire territory of India and officers chosen for these services serve in the administration of the States.
• Thus, an IAS officer who becomes the collector or an IPS officer who serves as the Commissioner of Police is under the control of the central government.
• States cannot take disciplinary action nor can they remove these officers from service.
• Articles 33 and 34 authorise the Parliament to protect persons in the service of the union or a state in respect of any action taken by them during martial law to maintain or restore order.
• This provision further strengthens the powers of the union government.
• The Armed Forces Special Powers Act has been made based on these provisions.
• This Act has created tensions between the people and the armed forces on some occasions.

4. Conflicts in the Indian Federal System

• It is quite natural that the states would expect a greater role and powers in the governance of the state and the country as a whole.
• This leads to various demands from the states.
• States have demanded that they should be given more powers and autonomy, which leads to tensions and conflicts in the relations between the centre and the states.
• Legal disputes between the centre and the states (or between states) can be resolved by the judiciary.
• Demands for autonomy are political and need to be resolved through negotiations.

Centre-State Relations

• The constitution is the only framework or a skeleton, its flesh and blood are provided by the actual process of politics.
• Federalism in India has to a large extent been influenced by the changing nature of the political process.
• During the 1950s and 1960s, the Congress party dominated the centre and the states, except for the formation of the new states relations between the state and centre remained quiet.
• In the middle of the 1960s Congress's dominance declined somewhat and in a large number of States opposition parties came to power.
• It resulted in demands for greater powers and greater autonomy for the States.
• These demands were a direct fallout of the fact that different parties were ruling at the centre and in many States.
• State governments were protesting against unnecessary interference in their governments by the Congress government at the Centre.
• This peculiar political context gave birth to a discussion about the concept of autonomy under a federal system.
• Since the 1990s different parties, both national and regional, have come to power.
• This has resulted in a greater say for the States, respect for diversity and the beginning of more mature federalism.
• Thus, it is in the second phase that the issue of autonomy became very potent politically.

Demands for autonomy

• Many states and political parties have from time to time, demanded that states should have more autonomy vis-à-vis the central government.
• The division of powers should be changed in favour of the states and more powers and important powers be assigned to the states.
• States like Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal and parties like DMK, Akali Dal and CPI-M have demands for autonomy from time to time.
• States should have independent sources of revenue and greater control over the resources is known as financial autonomy.
• In 1977 the Left Government in West Bengal brought out a document demanding a restructuring of centre-state relations in India.
• Tamil Nadu and Punjab also demanded, there was implicit support for the idea of greater financial powers.
• The autonomy demands related to the administrative powers of the states resent the control of the centre over the administrative machinery.
• Autonomy demands may also be related to cultural and linguistic issues.
•  The opposition to the domination of Hindi (in Tamil Nadu) or demand for advancing the Punjabi language and culture, some states also feel that there is a domination of the Hindi-speaking areas over the others.
• During the decade 1960, there were agitations in some states against the imposition of the Hindi language.

5. Role of the Governor’s and the President’s Rule

• The role of the Governor is always been controversial between the state and the central government.
• The governor is not an elected officeholder.
• Many governors have been retired military officers civil servants or politicians.
• The governor is appointed by the central government.
• The actions of the Governor are often viewed as interference by the Central government in the functioning of the state government.
• When two different parties are in power at the Centre and the state, the role of the Governor becomes even more controversial.
• The Sarkaria Commission was appointed by the central government in 1983 and it submitted its report in 1988 to examine the issue relating to Centre-State relations.
• It recommended that appointments of Governors should be strictly non-partisan.
• The powers and role of the Governor become controversial.
• Article 356 provides for President’s rule in any state.
• This provision is to be applied when a situation has arisen in which the government of the state cannot be carried on by the provisions of this constitution.
• It results in the takeover of the state government by the Union government.
• The President’s proclamation has to be ratified by parliament.
• President’s rule can be extended to three years.
• The Governor has the power to recommend the dismissal of the state government and suspension or dissolution of the state assembly. This has led to many conflicts.
• In some cases, state governments were dismissed even when they had a majority in the legislature, as had happened in Kerala in 1959 or without testing their majority, as happened in several other states after 1967.
• Some cases went to the Supreme Court and the court has ruled that the constitutional validity of the decision to impose the President’s rule can be examined by the judiciary.
• Article 356 was very sparingly used till 1967.
• After 1967 many states had non-congress governments and Congress was in power at the Centre.
• The Centre has often used this provision to dismiss state governments or has used the office of the Governments to prevent the majority party or coalition from assuming office.
• The central government removed elected governments in Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in the decade of 1980.

6. Demands for the New States

• The national movement not only created the pan-Indian national unity, but it also generated the distant unity among the common language, region and culture.
• States would be created based on the common culture and linguistic identity.
• It led to demand for new states, which resulted in a state reorganization commission being set up in 1954.
• It is recommended for the creation of the linguistic states, at least for the major linguistic groups.
• In 1956, the reorganization of some States took place.
• This saw the beginning of the creation of linguistic states and the process is continuing.
•  Gujarat and Maharashtra were created in 1960;
•  Punjab and Haryana were separated from each other in 1966.
•  Later, the northeast region was reorganized and several new States were created, Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
• In the 1990s, some of the larger States were further divided both to meet the demands for a separate state as well as to meet the need for greater administrative efficiency.
•  Thus Bihar, UP, and Madhya Pradesh were divided to create three new States. They are Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh respectively.
• Some regions and linguistic groups are still struggling for separate Statehood like Vidarbha (in Maharashtra).

7. Inter-state Conflicts

There have been many instances of disputes between two States or among more than two States. The judiciary indeed acts as the arbitration mechanism on disputes of a legal nature but these disputes are in reality not just legal. They have political implications and therefore they can best be resolved only through negotiations and mutual understanding.

Two types of disputes keep recurring.

One is the border dispute.

• States have certain claims over territories belonging to neighbouring States.
• Though language is the basis of defining boundaries of the States, often border areas would have populations speaking more than one language.
• So, it is not easy to resolve this dispute merely based on the linguistic majority.
• One of the long-standing border disputes is the dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka over the city of Belgaum.
• Manipur and Nagaland too, have a long-standing border dispute.
• The carving out of Haryana from the erstwhile State of Punjab has led to disputes between the two States not only over border areas but over the capital city of Chandigarh. This city today houses the capital of both these States.
•  In 1985, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi reached an understanding with the leadership of Punjab.
•  According to this understanding, Chandigarh was to be handed over to Punjab. But this has not happened yet.

Sharing of river waters

• The disputes over the sharing of river waters are even more serious because they are related to problems of drinking water and agriculture in the concerned States.
• The Cauvery water dispute is a major issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
•  Farmers in both the States are dependent on Cauvery waters.
• Though there is a river water tribunal to settle water disputes, this dispute has reached the Supreme Court.
• In another similar dispute Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are battling over sharing the waters of the Narmada River.
•  Rivers are a major resource and therefore, disputes over river waters test the patience and cooperative spirit of the States.

8. Special provisions

• The most extraordinary feature of the federal arrangement created in India is that many States get a differential treatment.
• We have already noted in the chapter on Legislature that the size and population of each State are different, an asymmetrical representation is provided in the Rajya Sabha.
• While ensuring minimum representation to each of the smaller States, this arrangement also ensures that larger States would get more representation.
•  In the case of division of powers, too, the Constitution provides a division of powers that is common to all the States.
• And yet, the Constitution has some special provisions for some States given their peculiar social and historical circumstances.
• Most of the special provisions about the northeastern States (Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, etc.) are largely due to their sizeable indigenous tribal population with a distinct history and culture.
• However, these provisions have not been able to stem alienation and the insurgency in parts of the region.
• Special provisions also exist for hilly States like Himachal Pradesh and some other states like Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra Sikkim and Telangana.

9. Jammu and Kashmir

• The other state which had a special status was Jammu and Kashmir (article 370)
• It was one of the large princely states, which had the option of joining India or Pakistan or remaining independent.
• In 1947 Pakistan sent tribal infiltrators from its side to capture Kashmir.
• Maharaja Hari Singh asked India’s help and acceded to the Indian Union.
• Many Muslim-majority areas in the western and eastern parts joined Pakistan.
• Under these circumstances, it was given much greater autonomy by the constitution.
• Article 370-the concurrence of the state was required for making any laws in matters mentioned in the union and concurrent lists.
• Earlier, there was a constitutional provision that allowed the president, with the concurrence of the state government, to specify which parts of the union list should apply to the state.
• The president had issued two constitutional orders in concurrence with the government of J&K making large parts of the constitution applicable to the state.
• As a result, though J&K had a separate constitution and a flag, the parliament’s power to make laws on the subjects in the union list was fully accepted. 
• The difference between the other states and the state of J&K was no emergency due to internal disturbances could be declared in J&K without the concurrence of the state.
• The union government could not impose a financial emergency in the state and the Directive Principles did not apply in J&K.
• Amendments to the Indian Constitution (under article 368) could apply in concurrence with the government of J&K.
• The special status was removed by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019.
• The state has been bifurcated into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
• The new arrangement has come into effect on 31^st October 2019.