Back to: MBOSE Social Science Class 10

Federalism is a system of government under which power is divided between central government and its various units. Example India, USA, Canada etc. Federalism helps explain why each state has its own constitution and powers such as being able to choose what kind of ballots it uses, even in national elections.

1.Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
2. Federalism has two levels of government:

• One is the government for the entire country that is usually responsible for a new subject of common national interest.
• b. The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the day-to-day administering of their state.

3. Federations are contrasted with unitary governments.
4. Under the unitary system, either there is only one level of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the central.
5. In a federal system, the central government cannot order the state government to do something.

Features of Federalism

• There are two or more levels of government.
• Different tiers of government govern the same citizens but each tier has its onw jurisdiction.
• The jurisdiction of respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution.
• The fundamental provisions of constitution cannot be changed by one level of government.
• Sources of revenue for each level are clearly specified.
• Court interprets the constitution and powers of different levels of government. Supreme Court is the umpire if disputes arise with different levels of government.
• The federal system thus has dual objectives: to safeguard and promote the unity of the country, while at the same time accommodate regional diversities.
• There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed.
  a) 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 is ‘coming together’ federations.
  b) The second route is where a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent States and the national government. This is ‘holding together’ federations.

What has made India a Federal Country?

• Division of Power
  • Union list includes subjects of national importance like defense banking etc.
  • State list includes subjects like police commerce etc.
  • Concurrent list includes the common subjects of both state and central government.
  • Residuary power includes the power to legislature for the subject not mentioned in other list.
• Three Tier system- India has three tier system
  • Union Government
  • State Government
  • Local Self Government
• Not equal powers to all administrations – India has hold together form of government.
• Consent of both levels of the government – In India the bill has to be passed through the both houses of the parliament.
• Jurisdiction – In India we have Supreme Court high court court and lower court.
• Source of Income – In India the state and the central have separate sources of Income

How is Federalism Practiced

• Linguistic State – States are made according to the culture of a area.
• Language Policy – In India there are many languages are given the recognition but only English is the official language.
• State central relation – Many steps are taken to improve the relation between the state and the center like forming coalition parties and many more.

Decentralization in India. – It means taking away powers from state and central government and giving it to local government.

Advantages

• Locals have better knowledge- issues can be best settled at the local level
• District participation– Inculcate the habit of the democratic participation.
• Foundation of Democracy- It is like a school for the leaders.
• Reduction of burden over state and central government– In this way the state and central government can share the financial burden. Eg ESIC been reduced to 4% from 6.5%.

Major steps taken towards decentralization was in 1992

• Regular elections – It is mandatory to have elections.
• Reservation of Seats – seats are reserved for SC ST
• State election commission – An independent body has been set up
• Sources of revenue– The state has to share the source of income with the local government.

Local Governments

Gram Sabha – the village assembly, it consists of every person in a village above 18 years old. Meetings must be held twice in a year.

The village panchayat – Consists of panchayat sarpanch and several wards.

There are many other bodies like block samiti, zila parishad and in the urban areas we have municipal corporation, Municipalties, mayor. Etc.