Democratic Politics Ii Chapter 2 Federalism

I. Similar Feature: India and Belgium both are democratic countries. They have divided their political powers between the constituent states and the national government. Both are the examples of holding federalism. In both countries the central governments tend to be more powerful vis-a-vis the states.
II. Different features: In feature India, some units of federation have unequal powers and some units have been granted special powers such as Jammu and Kashmir. But this is not prevailing in Belgium. In Indian Constitution, although the word ‘federation’ has not been used, the Indian Union is based on principle of federation.

(i) Federal form of government is in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
(ii) Under the unitary system of government there is only one level of government. There are no provincial state governments as we in India have. The units if any, are subordinate to the central government.

(i) Before 1992, constitutionally it was not mandatory to hold regular election to the local government bodies. However, it was made regular after 1992.
(ii) Before 1992, there was not reservation for women in all states. But after 1992 at least 1/3 of seats are reserved for women in local government bodies.

According to my opinion, statement of Sangeeta is correct. The government of India agreed to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purposes to avoid linguistic supremacy of a particular language. Otherwise, the movement against Hindi would have the issue worse. Thus, policy of government has strengthened national unity.

D.

C.

A.

D.

A, B and D

C.

A.

Sri Lanka, Belgium

A.

USA

A.

India

A.

A.

A.

USA

B.

21

D.

Panchyati Raj bodies

A.

D.

D.

A.

C.

C.

C.

B.

C.

Foreign Affairs

D.

Education

D.

B.

The USA

C.

A.

Centre

B.

B.

Three

D.

C.

A.

To ensure that people who speaks the same languge lived in the same state

C.

A.

Federalism is a system of goverment in which the power is divided between a central authority and various units of the country.

It has been adopted in United States of America.

The Indian Government acts as federal government in normal process of administration. But assume the role of union government in state of an emergency. 

Main features of a federation:
(i) A written and rigid constitution
(ii) Decentralisation of powers to different levels of the governments

It is a system of government in which the governmental power is divided between a central authority and its various constituent units.

In India the Constitution divides all subjects under three types of constitutional lists. These are: (i) Union List, (ii) State List and (iii) Concurrent list]. 

The total number of countries having federal political system is 25 out of the world's 192 countries.

The total population of countries having federal political system is 40 per cent of the total world's population.

As far as power sharing is concern one key or important change was made in the Constitution of Belgium to reduce the powers of the central government before 1993.

(i) In the unitary form of government there is only one central government for the whole country. While, in the federal form there is one central government and separate governments in the provinces.
(ii) In the federal form of government, the whole country is divided into some political units but in the unitary form the whole country is a single unit.
(iii) In the unitary form, all the powers are vested in one central government. While there is a division of powers between the federal and the state government in the federal form.
(iv) In the federal form of government mostly the constitution is written and as well as rigid while it is not so in case of a unitary state.

Indian federation consists of two types of units:
(a) Full-fledged states.
(b) Union territories administrated by the centre.
 Indian federation is more inclined towards the unitary features.
In case of an emergency, India assumes the role of unitary government.

The features are:
1. Powers between the Centre and the states have been divided by the Constitution.
2. The Judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional provisions and procedures.

The exact balance of power between the Central and the State governments and within various state governments varies from one federation to another. This balance depends mainly on the historical context in which the federation was formed. There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed.
The first route involves independent states coming together on their own to form a bigger unit so that by pooling sovereignty and retaining identity they can increase their security.

This type of ‘coming together’ federations include USA, Switzerland and Australia. In this first category of federations, all the constituent states usually have equal powers and are strong vis-a-vis the federal government.

Language policy of India:

1. Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one language. Hindi was identified as the official language. But Hindi is the mother tongue of only about 40 per cent of the Indians. Therefore, there were many safeguards to protect other languages.

2. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as scheduled languages by the Constitution.

3. A candidate in an examination conducted for the national government positions may opt to take the examination in any of these languages. States too have their own official languages. Much of the government work takes place in the official language of the concerned state.

4. Unlike Sri Lanka, the leaders of our country adopted a very cautious attitude in spreading the use of Hindi. According to the Constitution, the use of English for official purposes was to stop in 1965.

The three main lists which show the division of powers between the Centre and the States are:
1. The Union List, 2. The State List, 3. The Concurrent List.

They are :
(i) Reservation for women, SC, ST and OBCs
(ii) Five year tenure for panchayat 

In the 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 not on the basis of language but to recognise differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography. These include states like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.

When the demand for the formation of states on the basis of language was raised, some national leaders feared that it would lead to the disintegration of the country. The Central Government resisted linguistic states for sometime. But the experience has shown that the formation of linguistic states has actually made the country more united and stronger. It has also made administration easier .

The linguistic states were created to ensure that the people who spoke the same language lived in the same state.

The advantages are:
(i) It has made the country more united.
(ii) It has also made administration easier.

They are:
(i) Most states have not transferred significant powers to the local governments.
(ii) There is a lack of resources.
(iii) Elections of the gram sabha are not held regularly.

In a federation the states lose their sovereignty whereas in a confederation the member states remain independent and sovereign. In a confederation a common central government  is established, but it enjoys only the limited powers and jurisdiction.

The linguistic division has made the country more united and has made administration easier

A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992. The Constitution was amended to make the third tier of democracy more powerful and effective.

(i) Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to the local government bodies.

(ii) Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes.
(iii) At least one-third of all posts are reserved for women.

(iv) An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each state to conduct the panchayat and municipal elections.

(v) The state governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing powers varies from state to state.

Difficulties:
(i) There is a shortage of resources.
(ii) Elections are not held regularly.

The rural local government is known as the Panchayati Raj.
Its significance are:

(i) It helps the people to directly participate in decision-making process.
(ii)This helps to inculcate a habit of democratic participation.

The features of Indian Federalism are :
(i) Two tier system of government. Third tier added subsequently to government is that of Local Self-Government or Panchayati Raj through Zila Parishad and municipality.
(ii) Three organs of Government are: (a) Legislature, (b) Executive and (c) Judiciary.
(iii) Three lists containing subjects to be ruled are union list, state list and concurrent list. Residuary powers are also with the Central Government.

The factors are as under:
1. Fear of foreign invasion:
2. Illusion of economic development as human development: 
3. Perspective of Economic Progress:

The latest information that we have is from the census of India held in 2001. This census recorded more than 1500 distinct languages which people mentioned as their mother tongues. These languages were grouped together under some major languages. For example languages like Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Rajasthani, Bhili and many others were grouped together under 'Hindi'. Even after this grouping, the Census found 114 major languages. Of these 22 languages are now included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and are therefore, called the 'Scheduled languages'. Others are called 'non-Scheduled' languages. In terms of languages, India is perhaps the most diverse country in the world.
The largest language, Hindi, is the mother tongue of only about 40 per cent Indians. If we add to that all those who knew Hindi as their second or third language, the total number was still less than 50 per cent in 1991. As for English, only 0.02 per cent Indians had recorded it as their mother tongue. Another 11 per cent knew it as second or third language.

India has three tier government system, i.e. at the centre level, at the state level and the local level.
This new system of local government is the largest experiment in democracy conducted anywhere in the world. There are now about 36 lakh elected representatives in the Panchayats and municipalities all over the country. This number is bigger than the population of many countries in the world. Constitutional status for local self-government has helped deepening democracy in our country. It has also increased women's representation and voice in our democracy.

Problems of Local Government: There are many difficulties. While elections are held regularly and enthusiastically, gram sabhas are not held regularly. Most state governments have not transferred significant powers to the local self-governments. Nor have they given adequate resources. We are thus still a long way from realising the ideal of self-government.

I. Three Subjects of the Union List:
1. defence
2. foreign affairs 
3. Currency 

II. Three subjects of the State List:
1. Maintaining law and order within the state.
2. Public health.
3. Trade and commerce within the state.

III. Three subjects of the Concurrent List:
1. Education.
2. Criminal and civil procedure.
3. Marriage and divorce.

The reasons being:
(i) Union List bears more subjects dealt with Central Government or the Union viz. 97 subjects.
(ii) Residual powers are exclusively conferred to centre.
(iii) In case, any controversy arises between decisions made by the Centre and the State, the decision made by the Centre shall be deemed prevailing over the state.
(iv) The Central Government has emergency powers overriding other State governments because Governor in state acts as representative of the Central Government.

Centre-State relations in India:
(i) Restructuring the Centre-State relations is one more way in which federalism has been strengthened in practice.

(ii) The constitutional arrangements for sharing power work in reality depend to a large extent, on how the ruling parties and leaders follow these arrangements.

(iii) For a long time, the same party ruled both the centre and in most of the states. This meant that the state governments did not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units. As and when the ruling party at the state level was different, the parties that ruled at the centre tried to undermine the power of the states. In those days, the Central Government would often misuse the Constitution to dismiss the state governments that were controlled by rival parties. This undermined the spirit of federalism.

(iv) All this changed significantly after 1990. This period saw the rise of regional parties in many states of the country.This was also the beginning of the era of coalition governments at the centre. Since no single party got a clear majority in Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to enter into an alliance with many parties including several regional parties to form a government at the centre. This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of the state governments. This trend was supported by a majority.

The Constitution of India had not provided equal provisions to all states. Some states enjoy special status as examined:
(i) Jammu and Kashmir : Under Article 370, the concurrence of the state is required for making laws in matters mentioned in the Union and Concurrent Lists. Jammu and Kashmir has its own constitution. Indians who are not permanent residents of this state cannot buy land or house there. Amendments to the Indian Constitution under Article 368 cannot apply without the concurrence of the Jammu and Kashmir government.

(ii) There are areas which are too small to become an independent state but which could not be merged with any of the existing states. Such areas are like Chandigarh or Lakshadweep or the National Capital of Delhi. These are known as Union Territories and are run by the Central Government.

The rural local government is popularly known as Panchayati Raj. It consists of Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad.
(a) Panchayat: (i) There is a panchayat in each village or group of villages.
(ii) It is a council which has several ward members (panch) and a president (sarpanch).
(iii) They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village.
(iv) Panchayat is a decision-making body for the entire village.
(v) It works under the overall supervision of Gram Sabha.
(vi) Gram Sabha consists of all the voters and meets twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual budget of the Gram Panchayat and to review its performance.
(b) Panchayat Samiti or block or mandal: A few Gram Panchayats are grouped together to form a Panchayat Samiti. The members of this body are elected by all the members of the Panchayats in that area.
(c) Zila Parishad: All the panchayat samities in a district constitute Zila Parishad, whose members are elected. Members of the Lok Sabha and MLAs of that district and some other officials of other district level bodies are also its members. Zila Parishad chairperson is the political head of the Zila Parishad.

1.USA

1.India

3.Jammu and Kashmir

3.Australia

4.Japan

2.the Panchayats and Municipalities

4.Union list

2.1992

2.Panchayati Raj

Federalism is a system of goverment in which the power is divided between a central authority and various units of the country.
eg: USA and Australia

Existence of regional goverment in both the country.

Regional goverment had existed in Belgium even earlier and had their role and poweres but this was withdrawn by central goverment. These was changed in 1993 when the regional goverments were given constitutional power that were no longer dependent on central goverment. Thus, it shifted from a unitary to federal form of goverment.

C.

Poland