FEDERALISM
WHY DO WE HAVE MORE THAN ONE GOVERNMENTS?
- In order to safeguard unity of the country and at the same time to accommodate regional diversity India opted for Federal system of Government
WHAT IS MEANT BY FEDERALISM?
- Federalism is a system of Government in which power is divided between a central authority and various units (usually called states)
- Usually, Central authority is responsible for National interests and states look after the day-to-day administering of their states
WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF FEDERALISM?
- A Federation usually consists two or more tiers of Government
- Different tiers govern same citizens, but each tier has its own Jurisdiction in matters of Legislation, taxation and administration
- These jurisdictions are specified in the constitution – implies a Federation usually has a written constitution
- The fundamental provisions of the constitutions cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of the government
- The highest court in the country is vested with power to interpret the constitution in case of any differences
WHAT MAKES INDIA A FEDERAL COUNTRY?
- Although, the constitution of India never mentioned the word ‘Federation’ it comprises all the features of Federalism
- India has 3 tiers of Government
- India has a written Constitution
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- Jurisdiction of each tier are mentioned separately in the form of Union and State Lists in the Constitution
- Federalism is part of Basic structure which makes it difficult for any government to unilaterally change power sharing provisions
- And finally, India has Supreme court as top court which acts as interpreter of the Constitution
HOW IS FEDERALISM PRACTICED AT GROUND LEVEL?
- Creation of Linguistic States
- Language Policy
- Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one language
- There are 22 languages recognized as Scheduled languages by Constitution
- Structuring Centre-State relations to promote Cooperative Federalism