This document discusses the key aspects of federalism in India. It defines federalism as a system of government where power is shared between a central government and other administrative units. In India, federalism involves three levels of government - central, state, and local. The document outlines India's federal structure, including the division of powers between levels of government. It also addresses some of the historical challenges in implementing federalism in India's diverse context and how decentralization to local governments has strengthened democracy.
3. Federalism is system of government in which power
shared between central government and other units
of administration.
Federalism usually has two level of administration,
but some of the countries have more than two levels.
Each level manages and makes the laws for own
territory.
Each level of government enjoys their power
independent to the other.
4. In this form of administration, there is only one
level of government. If there are more sub-units,
they are subordinates to central.
Here, central government passes on the orders to
other levels of government.
Other levels of government are subordinate to
Central government.
5. Two or more levels
Each level has its own Jurisdiction
Each level’s Jurisdiction is specified.
Fundamentals of constitution can’t be changed by central
level itself.
Courts work as umpire in the disputes of different levels.
Revenue sources for each level are specified.
Federalism has two objectives 1. Safeguard and promote
national unity. 2. Accommodation of regional diversity
6. ComingTogether –
Independent states come together and form
bigger unit
It helps to maintain security and sovereignty.
Each state is equally strong
Ex. USA, Switzerland and Australia
7. HoldingTogether –
Country is divided into states for better
administration
It helps for accommodation of diversity
Some states might be given more power.The
ultimate power lies in the hand of central
Ex. India, Spain and Belgium
8. Division of Powers
Some States are given more powers
Written Constitution
UnionTerritories
Jurisdiction
Levels of Government
9. ▪ Union List – Subjects on which only central government
makes the laws i.e. Defense, Foreign Affairs, Currency,
Communication
▪ State List – Subjects on which only State Government can
make laws i.e. Police,Trade, Agriculture, Irrigation,
Commerce
▪ Concurrent List – Subjects on which both level can make laws
but at the end the law made by central continues i.e.
Education, Marriage,Trade Unions, Adoption, Succession
▪ Residuary Subjects – Subjects which newly added in the list
after the constitution was written and Central Government
only has right to make laws on them.
10. Linguistic States –
The first challenge faced after independence was
Linguistic States.
New states were formed on the basis of language and
culture.
Some states were formed on the basis of ethnicity and
geography such as Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
Some were concerned that it might lead to disintegration
of the nation. But that worked well and effectively.
11. Language Policy –
It was second and major as India does not have any official
language.
As more than 40% people speak Hindi, more safeguards
are provided to it.
But there are other 21 scheduled languages. State can
enjoy its own language for official purpose.
We have adopted three languages structure and any two
languages can be used for administrative purpose.
Flexibility in languages helped India to avoid the situation
like Sri Lanka.
12. Central and State Relation -
It helped a lot to avoid clashes between central and states.
When same political party ruling in central and state, state
couldn’t enjoy more power as central government could
influence the decisions of states.
But after 1990, many regional parties came up and acquired the
power in states.Thus more independent decisions were taken
by states and federal system was practiced.
Today, these regional political parties are even affecting the
decision making in central also.
So, we can say that today’s power sharing is more effective than
it was practiced in the early days when constitution was written.
13. When power is taken away from central and
given to other levels of government is called
decentralization. It plays very important role in
democracy as
It helps to reduce the burden of central government.
It helps to increase the participation of people in
democratic process.
It helps to solve local problems effectively
Local Self government is called schools of Democracy.
14. How Local Self Government has been given
more powers?
The act was passed in 1992 to empower the third
level.
▪ Regular Election
▪ Reservation to SC, ST groups.
▪ 1/3 Reservation given to women.
▪ States were to aid financially to LSG
▪ Separate State Election Commission was formed.
15. Rural self government –
▪ Zilla Parishad – It is at district level.The political head is called ZP
chairperson. It contains the member elected by Block Samiti and
honorary membership is also given to MP and MLA of that district.
▪ Block Samiti/Panchayat Samiti – It is at Block/Taluka level.The
political head is called panchayat samiti chairperson. It contains the
members elected by village Panchayat.
▪ Village panchayat – It is at every village or consisting the group of
two or three village together. It contains the member elected by
villagers.The political head of the village is called Sarpanch.The
most important committee in village is ‘Gram Sabha’.
16. Urban Self government –
▪ Municipality – It is at town level. It contains the
members elected by the citizens of the town. Political
head of the municipality is Municipality Chairperson.
▪ Municipal Corporation – It is at city level. It contains the
member elected by the citizens of the city.The political
head of the Municipal Corporation is Mayor.