Vertical form of Power sharing among different levels of government is a popular and widespread political concept follow in modern democracies. It is commonly referred as federalism. In Chapter 2 Federalism class 10 political science, we will try to understand the theory and practice of federalism in India.
Class 10 Political science Chapter 2 Federalism Notes
Here, we have explained each concept of class 10 chapter 2 federalism very concisely so that it would clear all doubts of board students related to the chapter 2 federalism class 10 and make them feel confident after having good insight about it.
chapter 2 Federalism Class 10 Notes
What is Federalism?
Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
A federation has two levels of government. Both these levels of government enjoy their power independently of each Other
Central Government– The government for the entire country, which is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest.
State Government- The government at the level of provinces or states, which look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state.
Difference Between Unitary System and Federal System
| Unitary Government | Federal Government |
| There is only one level of government, or the sub-units are subordinate to the Central Government. | There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government |
| The Central Government can pass on orders to the provincial or local government. | The Central Government cannot order the state government to do something. |
| The central government is supreme, and the administrative divisions exercise only powers that the central government has delegated to them. Their powers may be broadened and narrowed by the central government | .The State Government has powers of its own for which it is not answerable to the central government |
- There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.
- Different tiers of government govern the same citizens, but each tier has its own JURISDICTION in specific matters of legislation, taxation and administration.
- The existence and authority of each tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.
- The fundamental provisions of the Constitution cannot be unilaterally changed by one level of government. Such changes require the consent of both levels of government.
- Courts have the power to interpret the Constitution and the powers of different levels of government. The highest court act as umpire if any dispute arises between different levels of government.
- Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
- The federal system has dual objectives: i) To safeguard and promote the unity of the country and ii) To accommodate regional diversity.
Both level of government should agree to some basic rules of power sharing and trust that each would abide by its part of agreement to develop an ideal federal system where mutual trust and agreement to live together is fulfilled.
Type of Federation in the World
There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed. It depends on the historical context of any country how federation would be formed.
| Coming Together Federation | Holding Together Federation |
| The first route involves independent States coming together on their own to form a bigger unit | The second route is that a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government. |
| They increase their security by pooling their sovereignity and retaining their identity and have equal powers vis central government | The central government is more powerful vis- a- vis the states means they have unequal powers |
| USA, Switzerland and Australia are in the category of coming together federation | India, Spain and Belgium are in the category of holding together federation |
What Makes India a Federal Country?
India has huge social diversity in various aspects and it became independent after emerging through painful and bloody partition.So, Constitution declared India as a Union of States based on the principles of federation. All features of federalism apply to the provisions of Indian Constitution. The Constitution originally provided for the two tiers system of government (Central govt and state govt) and later third tier was added in 1992 in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities and each enjoy separate jurisdiction in respect of their functioning. Thus, it contains three list in which legislative power of each tier of government is defined.
1) Union List: It includes subjects of national importance such as the defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency. The Union Government alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in this list
.2) State List: It contains subjects of State and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation. The State Governments alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in this list
.3) Concurrent List: It includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Government as well as the State Governments. The list includes education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession. Both the Union as well as the State Governments can make laws on the subjects mentioned in this list. If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the Union Government will be considered
.Residuary Subjects- These subjects came after Constitution was made and only union govt has power to make laws related to it like computer software.
Special Provisions of Some States
All the Indian States don’t have equal powers, some States enjoy special powers like Jammu & Kashmir where many provisions of Indian Constitution are not applicable without the approval of the state Assembly. Only permanent residents of this state can buy land or house.
Union Territories– These are the territories which are too small to become an independent state and can’t be merged and enjoy very little power. These are Chandigarh, Lakshwadeep and Delhi etc which are run by central government by appointing an administrator. Federalism is basic structure of the Indian Constitution so any change to it has to be passed first by both house of parliament with atleast two third majority and ratified by atleast half of the total states.
Constitutional provisions are necessary for the success of federalism but real success of federalism is attributed to the nature of democractic politics in India which is respect for diversity and desire for living together.There are some major ways in which federalism is practised.
How is Federalism practised?
- Linguistic States
- Language Policy
- .Centre- State Relations
Linguistic States
The creation of linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in India. Some states were created not on the basis of language but to recognize differences based on culture, ethicity and geography. These include Nagaland, Jharkhand and Uttrakhand. This creation of linguistic states made country more united and administration easier.
boundaries
Language Policy
A second test for federalism is the language policy. Our Constitution didn’t give the status of national language to any of the 22 Scheduled languages recognised by Constitution. Hindi is the mother tongue of almost 40℅ of Indian, it was identified only as official language to safeguard the other language.
Candidates in Central government exams can opt any of the languages and states have their own official languages of the concerned state for government work.
According to Constitution, use of English as official language was to stop in 1965 but it is continued due to the demand by non Hindi speaking states for it. Promotion of Hindi is the official policy of the government of India but it doesn’t mean to impose hindi on non Non Hindi speaking States.
Centre-State relations
Restructuring the Centre-State relations is one more way in which federalism has been strengthened in practice.
In the initial period, same party ruled the centre and states both so state government didn’t exercises their rights as autonomous federal units that undermine the spirit of federalism. But, al this changed after 1990s as there were no clear majority of national party and there was emergence of regional political parties that led to the beginning of era of coalition government at the centre. Since then, national parties made alliance with regional political parties to form government. This caused a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of state government.
All these methods proven that federalism is practised in democratic politics of India to strengthen the unity of the country by showing respect of social diversity and desire to live together.
Decentralisation in India
India is a vast and populous country that can’t be run only by two tiers of government. Many states are internally very diverse so there is a need of power sharing at lower level within the states that resulted in the creation of third tier of government called local government.
Meaning of Decentralization
When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to the local government, it is called decentralisation. The basic idea behind decentralisation is that there are a large number of problems and issues which are best settled at the local level. Local people can also directly participate in the decision-making.
A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992. The Constitution was amended to make the third tier of democracy more powerful and effective. Here are the key features of 3-tier democracy-
Main Provisions ( Features) of Third tier of government
- It is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections for local government bodies.
- Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
- At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.
- State Election Commission has been created in each State to conduct panchayat and municipal elections.
- The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from State to State.
Gram Panchayat
Rural local government is popularly known as Panchayati Raj. Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a gram panchayat. This is a council consisting of several ward members, often called panch, and a president or sarpanch. They are directly elected by all the adult population living in a village or ward. Gram Panchayat is the decision-making body for the entire village.
Gram Sabha- All the voters in the village are members of Gram Sabha.The Panchayat works under the overall supervision of the Gram Sabha . It has to meet at least twice or thrice a year to approve the annual budget of the gram panchayat and to review the performance of the Gram Panchayat.
Panchayat Samiti– When Gram Panchayat are grouped together, they form a Panchayat Samiti or Block or Mandal. The member of the Panchayat Samiti representatives are elected by all the Panchayat members in that area.
Zilla Parishad– All the Panchayat Samitis or Mandals in a district together constitute the Zilla (district) Parishad. Members of the Lok Sabha, MLAs of the district, and some other officials of other district-level bodies are members of Zilla Parishad.
Local Government for Urban areas
Municipalities and Municipal Corporation
As Gram Panchayat is for Rural areas, similarly, we have Municipalities for semi-urban Or town areas. Big cities are constituted into Municipal Corporations. Both Municipalities and Municipal Corporations are controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s representatives. The Municipal Chairperson is the political head of the Municipality. In a Municipal Corporation, such an officer is called the Mayor.
This new system of local government is the largest experiment in democracy conducted anywhere in the world as it has almost 36 lakhs elected representatives in panchayat and municipalities. 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.