Key Features of Federalism:

• 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 jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of government are specified in the constitution. So 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 the levels of government.
• Courts have the power to interpret 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.
• Sources of revenue for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
• The federal system thus has dual objectives: to safeguard and promote unity of the country, while at the same time accommodate regional diversity.

Therefore, two aspects are crucial for the institutions and practice of federalism. Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of power sharing. 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.



There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed; which are as follows:

• Coming together federations: This type of federation exists in the USA, Switzerland and Australia. Independent states came together on their own to form a bigger unit so that they could increase their security; while maintaining their sovereignty. In this type of federation, the constituent states have equal power and are stronger vis-à-vis the central government.
• Holding together federation: This type of federation exists in India, Spain, Belgium, etc. In this case, power is shared among various social groups to accommodate a huge diversity. In this type of federation, the central government is more powerful than the state government. Different constituents of the federation may have unequal powers. Some units are granted special powers, e.g. the case of Jammu & Kashmir in India.

 . The first route involves independent States comingtogether on their own to form a bigger unit, so that bypooling sovereignty and retaining identity they canincrease their security. This type of ‘coming together’federations include the USA, Switzerland and Australia.In this first category of federations, all the constituentStates usually have equal power and are strong vis-à-visthe federal government.

The second route is where a large country decides todivide its power between the constituent States and thenational government. India, Spain and Belgium areexamples of this kind of ‘holding together’ federations. Inthis second category, the central government tends to bemore powerful vis-à-vis the States. Very often differentconstituent units of the federation have unequal powers.Some units are granted special powers.


 The Indian Federation
:• India had emerged as an independent nation after apainful and bloody partition. Soon after Independence,several princely states became a part of the country. TheConstitution declared India as a Union of States.Although it did not use the word federation, the IndianUnion is based on the principles of federalism.
• The Constitution originally provided for a two-tiersystem of government, the Union Government or whatwe call the Central Government, representing the Unionof India and the State governments. Later, a third tier offederalism was added in the form of Panchayats andMunicipalities.

1. Reasons for Success of Federalism in India
2. • Linguistic States: The creation of Linguistic States was the firstand a major test for democratic politics in our country. Since independence, many old States have vanished and manynew States have been created. Areas, boundaries and names ofthe States have been changed.
3.  In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India were changedin order to create new States. This was done to ensure that peoplewho spoke the same language lived in the same State.
4.  Some States were created not on the basis of language but torecognise differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography.These include States like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
5.  Experience has shown that the formation of linguistic States hasactually made the country, more united. It has also madeadministration easier. 
6. language policy: A second test for Indian federation is thelanguage policy.
7.  Our Constitution did not give the status of national language toany one language. Hindi was identified as the official language.But Hindi is the mother tongue of only about 40 per cent ofIndians. Therefore, there were many safeguards to protect otherlanguages. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognisedas Scheduled Languages by the Constitution.
8.  Promotion of Hindi continues to be the official policy of theGovernment of India. Promotion does not mean that the CentralGovernment can impose Hindi on States where people speak adifferent language. The flexibility shown by Indian political leadershelped our country avoid the kind of situation that Sri Lanka findsitself in.
9.   • Centre-State relations: Restructuring the Centre-Staterelations is one more way in which federalism has beenstrengthened in practice. Situation During Congress Monopoly: For major part of thecountry same party was in power in both centre and state. As aresult state governments were not in a position to enjoy theirrights. Whenever, there was a different party in power in aparticular state, central government tried to undermine itsinfluence. Constitution was usually misused to topple unfriendlygovernment in those states. Situation in the Era of Coalition Government: After 1989 patternha shifted to multi-party coalition government at the centre. As aresult a new culture of power sharing and respect for theautonomy of State Governments has developed. It can be saidthat now the federalism is more developed in India

Decentralisation in India:• A vast country like India cannot be run only through two-tiers ofgovernment as discussed above.
• 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 areinternally very diverse in terms of dialects or local languages spoken, interms of eating habits and cultures
.• So, federal power sharing in India needs another tier of government,below that of the State governments.

•  This is the rationale for decentralisation of power.
•  The basic idea behind decentralisation is that there are a largenumber of problems and issues which are best settled at the local level.People have better knowledge of problems in their localities. They alsohave better ideas on where to spend money and how to managethings more efficiently. Besides, at the local level it is possible for thepeople to directly participate in decision making.
•  This helps to inculcate a habit of democratic participation. Localgovernment is the best way to realise one important principle ofdemocracy, namely local self-government.    
•  A major step towards decentralisation was taken in1992. The Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective.
•  Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regularelections to local government bodies
• . Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and theexecutive heads of these institutions for the ScheduledCastes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
•  At least one-third of all positions are reserved forwomen
• . An independent institution called the State ElectionCommission has been created in each State to conductpanchayat and municipal elections. 

 The State governments are required to share some powers andrevenue with local government bodies.
• The nature of sharing varies from State to State.
• Rural local government is popularly known by the namepanchayati raj
.• Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a grampanchayat. 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 thatward or village.
• It is the decision-making body for the entire village.
• The panchayat works under the overall supervision of the gramsabha. All the voters in the village are its members
.• 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.Panchayati raj