Presented By:

SHAFIQUE AHMED
TGT-SOCIAL SCIENCE
GYAN BHARTI WORLD SCHOOL, GAYA
 LET US RECAP
• One of the key changes made in the Constitution of Belgium
was to reduce the power of the Central Government and to
give these powers to the regional(local) governments.
• But all those powers given to local/regional governments
could be withdrawn by the Central Government.
• In 1993 the regional governments were given constitutional
powers that were no longer dependent on the central
government.
• Belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of
government.
• But Sri Lanka continued with a unitary system where the
National Government has all the powers.
• Tamil leaders wanted Sri Lanka to become a federal system.
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 WHAT IS FEDERALISM?
• Federalism is a system of government in which the
power is divided between a central authority and
various constituent/basics/integral units of the
country.
• A federation has two levels of government.
• One is the government for the entire country that is
usually responsible for a few subjects of common
national interest.
• The others are governments at the level of provinces or
states that look after much of the day-to-day
administering of their state.
• And both these levels of governments enjoy their power
independent of the other.
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5
 CONTRAST BETWEEN FEDERATION &
UNITARY GOVERNMENTS
• Either there is only one level of government or the
sub-units are subordinate(assistant) to the central
government under the unitary system.
• The Central Government can pass on orders to the
provincial or the local government.
WHILE
• In a federal system, the central government cannot
order the state government to do something. State
government has powers of its own for which it is not
answerable to the central government.
BUT
• Both these governments are separately answerable to
the people.
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 KEY FEATURES OF FEDERALISM
1. There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.
2. Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each
tier has its own JURISDICTION(The area which someone has
legal authority)/(power) in specific matters of legislation,
taxation and administration.
3. The jurisdictions(powers) of the respective tiers of government
are specified in the constitution. The existence and authority of
each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.
4. The fundamental provisions(rules or instructions) of the
constitution cannot be unilaterally(इकतरफ़ा) changed by one
level of government. Such changes require the consent(सहम त)
of both the levels of government.
5. Courts have the power to interpret(explain) the constitution and
the powers of different levels of government.
 The highest court acts as an umpire if disputes arise between different
levels of government in the exercise of their respective powers.
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 FEATURES OF FEDERALISM
6. Sources of revenue(income) for each level of government are
clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy
(independence).
7. The federal system thus has dual objectives:
 To safeguard and promote unity of the country,
 Accommodate Regional Diversity(adjust local variations).

CRUCIAL ASPECTS FOR THE PRACTISE OF FEDERALISM

There are Two aspects which are crucial for the institutions and
practice of federalism.
1. Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of
power-sharing.
2. They should also trust that each would abide by its part of the
agreement.
 An ideal federal system has both aspects : mutual trust and
agreement to live together. 8
 Can you take the challenge to answer these questions?

Q1. What is meant by Federalism? How many levels of

government does a federation have? Explain each of them
in details.
Q2. How is Federation government different from Unitary
government?
Q3. What are the key features of Federalism? Explain any
six points in details.
Q4. Who has the power to interpret the constitution and
the powers of different levels of government?
Q5. What are the dual objectives of the federal system?
Q6. What are the two crucial aspects for the practice of
federalism?
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 TYPES OF FEDERALISM
• The exact balance of power between different types of
Federalism depends on its formation.
• There are two (2) types of Federation on the basis of their
formation.
(1) “COMING TOGETHER” FEDERATIONS
1. Many independent states come together on their own to form a
bigger unit so that they can increase their security by
combining(unifying) sovereignty(independence) and retaining
identity.
2. All states have equal power.
3. State and Central Government also has equal powers.
4. Examples are USA, Switzerland and Australia are among the
countries following “Coming Together Federation”.
5. All the constituent States usually have equal power and are
strong vis-à-vis (in relation to) the federal government.
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 TYPES OF FEDERALISM
(2) “HOLDING TOGETHER” FEDERATIONS
1. A large country decides to divide its power between
the constituent States and the National(CENTRAL)
government.
2. The Central Government tries to be more powerful
vis-à-vis (in relation to) the States.
3. Different constituent States have unequal powers.
4. Some units are granted special powers.
5. Examples are India, Spain and Belgium .

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12
 Is India a federal country?
• The Constitution of India declared India as a
Union of States.
• It did not use the word federation, but the Indian Union
is based on the principles of federalism.
Let’s check India with all the features of Federalism.
1. The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier
system of government, the Union Government or the
Central Government, representing the Union of India
and the State Governments. Later, a third tier of
federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and
Municipalities i.e. Local Government. So, it pass the
test of the First feature of Federalism which was
“There are two or more levels (or tiers) of
government”.
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 Is India a federal country? contd…
2. Jurisdiction of each level of Government has been
specified in the constitution.
3. All States in the Indian Union do not have identical
powers as it is a “Holding together’ federations such as
– Some States enjoy a special status. States such as Assam,
Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram enjoy special
powers under certain provisions of the Constitution of India
(Article 371) due to their strange social and historical
circumstances.
– Special powers are especially enjoyed in relation to the
protection of land rights of indigenous(original) people,
their culture and also preferential employment in
government services.
– Indians who are not permanent residents of this State
cannot buy land or house here.
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 Is India a federal country? contd…
4. All States in the Indian Union do not have
identical powers as it is a “Holding together’
federations such as
– There are some units of the Indian Union which enjoy
very little power. These are areas which are too small to
become an independent State but which could not be
merged with any of the existing States.
– These areas, like Chandigarh, or Lakshadweep or the
capital city of Delhi, are called Union Territories. These
territories do not have the powers of a State. The
Central Government has special powers in running
these areas.

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 Is India a federal country? contd…
5. It is not easy to make changes to the power sharing
arrangement.
 The Parliament cannot on its own change this arrangement.
Any change to it has to be first passed by both the
Houses of Parliament (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha) with at
least two-thirds majority.
 Then, it has to be confirmed by the legislatures of at least
half of the total States.

6. In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High

Courts and the Supreme Court make a decision. Such as
• The judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the
implementation of constitutional provisions and procedures.
• The Union/Central and State governments have the power to raise
resources by charging taxes in order to carry on the government
and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.
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 TYPES OF LISTS
– The Constitution clearly provided a threefold distribution of
legislative powers between the Union Government and the
State Governments. it contains three lists:
1. UNION LIST:- The list of powers and functions regarding the
subjects on which the National Government can only make
laws is called the Union List.
• It includes subjects of national importance such as defence of the
country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency.
• They are included in this list because we need a uniform policy on these
matters throughout the country.
• The Union Government alone can make laws relating to the subjects
mentioned in the Union List.
2. STATE LIST: The list of powers & functions pertaining to the
State Government is called the State List.
– It contains subjects of State and local importance such as police,
trade, commerce, agriculture, law and order, land reforms, excise
tax, health, sanitation and irrigation.
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 TYPES OF LISTS contd…
3. CONCURRENT LIST: - Both the Union/Central and State
Governments can make laws on the subjects contained in the
Concurrent List.
– This list includes price control, education, forest, trade unions,
marriage, adoption and succession etc…
– If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the
Union Government will prevail/overcome.
4. RESIDUARY LIST:- It contains the subjects which do not fall in
any of the three lists.
» Subjects like Computer Software that came up after the
constitution was made.
» According to our constitution, the Union Government has the
power to legislate on these ‘residuary’ subjects.

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 Let’s Revise through Activity Based Questions
1. Pokharan, the place where India conducted its
nuclear tests, lies in Rajasthan. Suppose the
Government of Rajasthan was opposed to the
Central Government’s nuclear policy, could it
prevent the Government of India from
conducting the nuclear tests?
Ans: No, Rajasthan Government could not prevent
the Government of India from conducting the
nuclear tests because "Defence" is the subject
of Union List and nuclear tests are the part of
the Defence.
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 Let’s Revise through Activity Based Questions
2. Suppose the Government of Sikkim plans to
introduce new textbooks in its schools. But the
Union Government does not like the style and
content of the new textbooks. In that case,
does the state government need to take
permission from the Union Government before
these textbooks can be launched?
Ans: Yes, the Sikkim Government need to take
permission from the Union Government before
the launching of the textbooks because
"Education" is the subject of concurrent List.
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 Let’s Revise through Activity Based Questions
3. Suppose the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Orissa have different policies on
how their state police should respond to the
Naxalites. Can the Prime Minister of India
intervene and pass an order that all the Chief
Ministers will have to obey?
• Ans: No, Police is a state subject on which only
the states can make laws. So, Prime Minister of
India cannot intervene and pass an order on the
state police.

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 Let’s Revise through Activity Based Questions

Here are two cartoons showing the relationship between Centre and States.
Should the state go to the centre with a begging bowl? How can the leaders
of a coalition keep the partners of government satisfied?
Yes, the state should go to the centre but not with a begging bowl, but not for more powers
but for some privileges and financial preferences and security. The leader of a coalition keep
the partners of government satisfied by giving some or other powers and privileges to every
partner according to the proportions of their participation in the government. 22
23
 How is Federalism Practised?
• The provisions laid down in the Constitution are
necessary for the success of federalism but these
provisions are not sufficient for its success.
What led to the success of Federal system in India?
• If the federal experiment has succeeded in India, it is
not only because of the clearly laid out constitutional
provisions.
• The real success of federalism in India can be pointed
towards the nature of democratic politics in our
country.
• The democratic politics in our country ensured that the
spirit of federalism, respect for diversity and desire for
living together became shared ideals in our country.
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Let us look at some of the major ways by
which Federalism has been a success in
India.

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 Test-1: Linguistic States
• The creation of linguistic States was the first and a
major test for democratic politics in our country.
• Many old States have vanished and many new States
have been created.
• Areas, boundaries and names of the States have also
been changed.
• In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India
were changed in order to create new States 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 recognize differences based on culture,
ethnicity (civilization/society) or geography such as
Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
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 Was creating Linguistic States a success?
• Some national leaders feared that it would lead
to the breakdown of the country when the
demand for the formation of States on the
basis of language was raised.
• The Central Government refused to accept
linguistic States for some time.
• But, the formation of linguistic states have
shown that it has actually made the country,
more united.
• It has also made administration easier.
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 Test-2: LANGUAGE POLICY
• Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to
any one language.
• Hindi was identified as the official language as it is the mother
tongue of only about 40 per cent of Indians.
• There are 21 other languages recognised as
Scheduled Languages by the Constitution.
• Many States too have their own official languages.
• Candidates can opt to take examination in any one of those
22 languages for a Central Government positions.
• English would act as medium of communication between
Central or State or Inter-State communication/government
work.
• The leaders of our country adopted a very cautious attitude in
spreading the use of Hindi.
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 Test-2: LANGUAGE POLICY Cont…
• According to the Constitution, the use of English
for official purposes was to stop in 1965.
• However, many non-Hindi speaking States
demanded that the use of English continue.
• In Tamil Nadu, this movement took a violent
form.
• Finally, the Central Government agreed to
continue the use of English along with Hindi for
official purposes.
• Promotion of Hindi continues to be the official
policy of the Government of India. 29
 Centre-State Relations
• For a long time, the same party(Congress) ruled both at the Centre and in most
of the States. This meant that the State governments did not exercise their
rights as independent federal units.
• As and when the ruling party at the State level was different, the parties that
ruled at the Centre tried to undermine/weaken the power of the States.
• In 1990, there was a rise of regional/local political 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 the 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).
• A new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy/independence
of State Governments began from 1990.
• It was supported by a major judgement of the Supreme Court that made it
difficult for the Central Government to dismiss state governments in an
arbitrary/illogical/sudden/uninformed manner.
• Therefore, federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in the
early years after the Constitution came into force.
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 Linguistic diversity of India
• As per Census of 2011, 1300 distinct languages were found as their
mother tongues which were grouped together under some major
languages.
• Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Rajasthani and many
others were grouped together under ‘Hindi’.
• Scheduled Languages: -After this grouping, the Census found 121 major
languages and out of these 22 languages are now included in the Eighth
Schedule of the Indian Constitution and are therefore called ‘Scheduled
Languages’.
• India is perhaps the most diverse country in the world in terms of
language.
• The largest language, Hindi, is the mother tongue of only about 44 %
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% in 2011.
Scheduled Languages of India 31
 Decentralisation in India
• States in India are as large as independent countries of
Europe.
• In terms of population, Uttar Pradesh is bigger than Russia,
Maharashtra is about as big as Germany.
• Many of these States are internally very diverse.
• Therefore, there is a need for power sharing within these
States.
• Federal power sharing in India needs another tier of
government, below that of the State governments which
acted as the foundation for decentralisation of power. Thus,
resulted a third-tier of government, called local government.
• When power is taken away from Central and State
governments and given to local government, it is called
decentralisation. 32
 Needs/Adv. of Decentralisation in India
• There are a large number of problems and issues which
are best settled at the local level. People have better
knowledge of problems in their localities.
• They also have better ideas on where to spend money
and how to manage things more efficiently.
• At the local level it is possible for the people to directly
participate in decision making. This helps to inculcate a
habit of democratic participation.
• Local government is the best way to realise one
important principle of democracy, namely local
self-government.

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 Attempt to setup Decentralisation in India
• The need for decentralisation was recognised in our
Constitution.
• There have been several attempts to decentralise
power to the level of villages and towns.
• Panchayats in villages and municipalities in urban
areas were set up in all the States which were
directly under the control of state governments.
• Elections to these local governments were not held
regularly. Local governments did not have any
powers or resources of their own. Thus, there was
very little decentralisation in effective terms.
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 Steps towards Decentralisation in India
• A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992. The
Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy
more powerful and effective.
1) Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to
local government bodies.
2) Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads
of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and Other Backward Classes.
3) At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.
4) An independent institution called the State Election Commission
has been created in each State to conduct panchayat and
municipal elections.
5) The State governments are required to share some powers and
revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing
varies from State to State. 35
Panchayati Raj System in India

36
Panchayati Raj System in India

37
Panchayati Raj System in India

38
Urban Government

39
Overall Government

40
 Panchayati Raj System in India
• Rural local government is popularly known by the name Panchayati Raj.
• A Gram Sabha consists of all men and women of a village, who o have reached
the age of 18 years & above. All the voters in the village are its members.
• A Gram Sabha 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.
• Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a Gram Panchayat.
• Each Gram Panchayat is divided into several wards consisting of a group of
families of a village.
• Each Ward elects a representative called the Ward Member or Panch.
• Panchs are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or
village which is the decision-making body for the entire village.
• The members of the Gram Sabha also directly elect the Sarpanch or Mukhiya
or Pradhan who is also the Panchayat President.
• The Ward Panchs and The Sarpanch form the Gram Panchayat.
• The Gram Panchayat works under the overall supervision of the Gram Sabha.
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 Panchayat Samiti & Zilla Parishad
• The local government structure goes right up to the district
level.
• A few gram panchayats are grouped together to form what
is usually called A Panchayat Samiti or Block or Mandal.
• The members of this representative body(Panchayat Samiti)
are elected by all the panchayat members in that area.
• All the Panchayat Samitis Or Mandals in a district together
constitute the Zilla (District) Parishad.
• Most of the members of Zilla Parishad 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.
• Zilla Parishad Chairperson is the political head of the
Zilla Parishad.
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 Local Government in Towns
• Similarly, local government bodies exist for urban areas
as well.
• MUNICIPALITIES are set up in towns. Big cities are
constituted into Municipal Corporations.
• Both Municipalities And Municipal Corporations are
controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s
representatives.
• Municipal Chairperson is the political head of the
municipality(in towns).
• In a Municipal Corporation such an officer is called the
Mayor(in big cities).

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 Some facts about Local Government
• The 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 etc., all over the
country.
• This number(36 lakh) is bigger than the population of
many countries in the world.
• Constitutional status for local government has helped to
deepen democracy in our country. It has also increased
women’s representation and voice in our democracy.

44
 Some issues of Local Government
• Elections are held regularly and enthusiastically,
but Gram Sabhas are not held regularly.
• Most state governments have not transferred
significant powers to the local governments.
• Most state governments have not given
adequate resources to the local governments.
• We are still a long way from realizing the ideal
of self-government.

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An experiment in Brazil

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MORE WHEN WE MEET IN THE
NEXT CHAPTER

Many thanks to all the learners for

cooperating and listening me in the class.
May Allah bless you all!

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48
 Spirit of Federalism
Federalism means the each other. independence of the
different levels of government of a country and division of
powers between them.

It essentially means that both the Centre and the states have
the freedom to operate in their spheres of powers, in
coordination with

The Indian model of federalism is called a quasi-federal

system as it contains major features of both a federation and
a union.
Move to Slide 22 Link to web source

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Move to Slide 29 50