CLASS-X

SUBJECT- CIVICS

CHAPTER-2- FEDERALISM

INSTRUCTIONS- Students have to complete the following work in their Civics notebook. Please read your text
thoroughly and don't miss out on any page including all pictures and cartoons. Printouts of the notes will not be
accepted.

QUESTIONS
Q1. Define federalism.
Ans- Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various
constituent units of the country. Usually, a federation has two levels of government.
a) Union government-for the entire country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national
interest.
b) State government-look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state.

Q2. UNITARY VS FEDERAL

UNITARY GOVERNMENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Either there is only one level of government or the State government has powers of its own for which it is
sub-units are subordinate to the central government not answerable to the central government

The central government can pass on orders to the Both these governments are separately answerable to
provincial or the local government. the people.

Eg- Sri Lanka Eg- Belgium

Q3. Mention any 5 features of federalism. (refer to pg no-15)

Q4. India comes under which type of federation and why?

OR
WAYS TO FORM A FEDERATION

COMING TOGETHER FEDERATION HOLDING TOGETHER FEDERATION

Independent States coming together on their own to a large country decides to divide its power between the
form a bigger unit, so that by pooling sovereignty and constituent States and the national government.
retaining identity they can increase their security the central government tends to be more powerful
 vis-à-vis the States.

All the constituent States usually have equal power and different constituent units of the federation have
are strong vis-à-vis the federal government. unequal powers. Some units are granted special
powers.

Eg- USA, Switzerland and Australia. Eg- India, Spain and Belgium

Q5. Discuss the threefold distribution of legislative powers between the Union Government and the State
Governments.
Ans- Different tiers enjoy separate jurisdiction in India. Legislative powers are divided through a list system.
Union List
a) includes subjects of national importance such as defense of the country, foreign affairs, banking,
communications and currency.
b) They are included in this list because we need a uniform policy on these matters throughout the country.
c) The Union Government alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the Union List.
State List
a) contains subjects of State and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation.
b) The State Governments alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the State List.
Concurrent List
a) includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Government as well as the State Governments, such
as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession.
b) Both the Union as well as the State Governments can make laws on the subjects mentioned in this list.
c) If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the Union Government will prevail.
Residuary powers
a) Subjects that are not included in any of the above lists.
b) The Union Government has the power to legislate on residuary subjects.
c) Eg- IT, Computer software

Q6. In India, the Central government does not give equal power to its constituent units. Comment.
Ans- In the Indian Union (holding together federation), all states do not have identical powers.
a) States like Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram enjoy special powers under Article 371 due
to social and historical circumstances.
b) Special powers like- protection of land rights of indigenous people, their culture and preferential
employment in government services.
c) Non permanent residents of this state cannot buy land here.
Earlier Jammu and Kashmir also enjoyed special status under Article 370 but now it has been scrapped in 2019.

Q7. What are Union Territories? Name them.

Ans- These are areas which are too small to become an independent State but which could not be merged with any
of the existing States.
Union Territories- a) Andaman and Nicobar Island b) Chandigarh c) Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu d)
Delhi e) Ladakh f) Lakshadweep g) Jammu and Kashmir h) Puducherry

Q8. Can parliament make changes to the basic structure of the Constitution?
Ans- a) The Parliament cannot on its own change this arrangement.
b) Any change to it has to be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at least two-thirds majority.
c) Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the total States.
Q9. How is federalism practiced in India?
OR
Why has federalism succeeded in India? Which are the policies adopted by India that have ensured it?
Ans- In our country the spirit of federalism, respect for diversity and desire for living together became shared ideals.
a) Linguistic states- In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India were changed in order to create new
linguistic States (Eg:-Gujarat, Maharashtra).Some States were created on the basis of culture, ethnicity or
geography(Eg- Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand).
b) Language policy- India never adopted a national language so that diversity can be protected. We have 2
official languages-Hindi and English and 22 scheduled languages.
c) Center state relations-For a long time, the same party ruled both at the Center and in most of the States. But
with the coalition government in the 1990s we can notice a rise in regional parties.This led to a new culture
of power sharing.
d) Decentralization- In 1992, two amendments were passed-73rd and 74th Amendment that further
strengthened the third tier- local government in India.
In India, federalism has succeeded because of two reasons-constitutional provisions and the nature of democratic
politics in our country.

Q10. Explain the language policy in detail.

Ans- a) Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one language.
b) Hindi was identified as the official language. But Hindi is the mother tongue of only about 40 percent of Indians.
c) Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as Scheduled Languages by the Constitution in the 8th
Schedule.
d) A candidate in an examination conducted for the Central Government positions may opt to take the examination
in any of these languages.
e) According to the Constitution, the use of English for official purposes was to stop in 1965.
f) Many non-Hindi speaking States demanded that the use of English be continued. In Tamil Nadu, this movement
took a violent form.
g) The Central Government responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official
purposes.

Q11. Define decentralization.

Ans- When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government, it is called
decentralization.

Q12. Why is there a need for decentralization?

OR
Why is decentralization favored in democracy? Identify the reasons.
Ans- a) The basic idea behind decentralization is that there are a large number of problems and issues which are best
settled at the local level.
b) People have better knowledge of problems in their localities.
c) They also have better ideas on where to spend money and how to manage things more efficiently.
d) At the local level it is possible for the people to directly participate in decision making.
e) Local government is the best way to realize one important principle of democracy, namely local self-government.

Q13. State any two differences between the local government before and after the Constitutional amendment
in 1992.
Ans-Before 1992-
a) Elections to the local governments were not held regularly.
 b) Local governments did not have any powers or resources of their own.
After 1992-
a) It is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies
b) At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.

Q14. What steps were taken in 1992 to strengthen the third tier?
Ans- In 1992, two amendments were passed-73rd and 74th Amendment that further strengthened the third tier- local
government in India.
a) Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies.
b) Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
c) At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.
d) An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each State to conduct
panchayat and municipal elections.
e) The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The
nature of sharing varies from State to State.

Q15. What do you understand about Gram Sabha?

Ans- a) All the voters in the village are its members.
b) It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual budget of the gram panchayat and to review
the performance of the gram panchayat

Q16. Structure of Rural local government

Q17. Structure of urban local government

Q18. What difficulties are faced by the local government in India?
Ans- a) While elections are held regularly and enthusiastically, gram sabhas are not held regularly.
b) Most state governments have not transferred significant powers to the local governments. Nor have they given
adequate resources.
We are thus still a long way from realizing the ideal of self-government.

Q19. Locate the following States on a blank outline political map of India: Manipur, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh
and Goa.

Q20. Identify and shade three federal countries (other than India) on a blank outline political map of the
world. (Refer to pg no.-14)

CARTOON QUESTIONS

1) Identify the leader shown in the above cartoon.

Ans. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2) What is being shown in this cartoon?
Ans. The concept of coalition government has been shown here in the cartoon. Vajpayee’s government could not
garner support in the 1996 elections and his government fell in just 13 days. To overcome this, in the 1998 elections,
BJP formed an alliance before the elections known as NDA- National Democratic Alliance.

4) Why is the man on the chair holding a lotus?

Ans. Atal Bihari Vajpayee belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party( BJP) and their electoral symbol is lotus. That is
why he is seen holding one as it marks the victory of Lotus in the 1998 elections.

5) What is his chair made up of?

Ans. His chair is made up of bombs as the main issue with a coalition government is that it can explode/ break at
any point of time due to conflicts and differences. There is always a fear that the smaller parties will withdraw
support from the government.

6) Mention one advantage and one disadvantage of a coalition government.

Ans. ADVANTAGE: A smaller party, state level parties also gets a chance to form a government at the centre.
DISADVANTAGE: It is risky as any party can withdraw support suddenly and it might lead to the fall of such a
government.

1) What does the cartoon reflect?

Ans. This cartoon shows the relations between the centre and states when it comes to division of powers. Central
government has a say in the allocation of funds, resources and powers to the states in India. States feel that this has
made the central government more dominant. The centre is seen here as very selective in distributing powers to the
states.

2) Identify the leader shown in the above cartoon.

Ans. The leader shown above is the first woman Prime Minister of India- Mrs. Indira Gandhi. She was the Prime
Minister of India.

3) What kind of powers can the states be seen demanding here?

Ans. Power to run their governments independently without control, to get more resources, authority to change
boundaries and form new states or maybe separatists’ demands.

4) Has the Centre misused this power?

Ans. Central government was made stronger by the constitution makers as it was very clear that states cannot be
given equal powers as it may lead to conflicts. Nehru too was a strong and ardent supporter of a strong central
government. Sometimes central governments have misused this power by using Article 356 of the Indian
Constitution by imposing President’s Rule in some states.

5) How can you say India has a strong central government?

Ans. a) Central government has the power to frame laws on important functions like defense , finance , external
affairs etc.

b) Centre has overriding authority over concurrent list and also residuary powers

c) It has unilateral power to change the boundaries of states.

d) Power to amend the Constitution.

e) All India services like IAS, IPS, IFS are recruited and trained by the centre.