unitary system federal system

There is only one level of government. There is more than one level of
where the sub-units are subordinate to government. State government has
the central government. powers of its own for which it is not
answerable to the central government.

The central government can pass on

The central government cannot order
orders to the provincial or the local
the state government to do something.
government.

Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other.

The change that took place in 1993 was that the regional governments were given
constitutional powers that were no longer dependent on the central government.
Thus, Belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of government.

25 of the world’s 193 countries have federal political systems

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Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a

central authority and various constituent units of the country. It is one of the major
forms of power-sharing in modem democracies.

Federalism also known as vertical division of power involves higher and lower 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.
Key features of federalism are:

1. Two or more levels of government. It reduces the power of the Central

government and gives power to regional governments.
2. Governments at different levels should agree to some rules of power-sharing
and abide by their part of the agreement
3. Each level has its own jurisdiction in specific matters of legislation, taxation
and administration.
4. The fundamental provisions of the Constitution cannot be unilaterally
changed. Such changes require the consent of both the levels of government.
5. 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.
6. The Union and State governments have the power to raise resources by
levying taxes in order to carry on the responsibilities assigned to each of them
(Financial Autonomy)
7. Federal system has dual objectives to safeguard and promote unity of the
country, and to accommodate regional diversity.

Constitutional provisions are necessary for the success of federalism but these are
not sufficient. Reasons for success of federalism in India can be attributed to

 The nature of democratic politics in India has ensured that the spirit of
federalism, respect for diversity and desire for living together have become a
shared ideal in our country.
 Constitutional status for local government has helped to deepen democracy. It
has helped to inculcate a habit of democratic participation.
 Clearly laid out Constitutional Provisions providing a three-fold distribution of
powers in the three lists—Union List, State List and Concurrent List—between
the Union and State Governments
 The creation of linguistic states. Boundaries of several old states of India were
changed in order to create new states. This was done to ensure that people
who spoke the same language lived in the same state. It has also made
administration easier.
  Culture of trust, cooperation, mutual respect and restraint has also helped in
the smooth functioning of nations.

The constitutional arrangements for sharing power work in reality depends to a large
extent on how the ruling parties and leaders follow these arrangements.

The same party ruled both at the Centre and in most of the States. This meant that
the State governments did not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units

When the ruling party at the State level was different, the parties that ruled at the
Centre tried to undermine the power of the States. The Central Government would
often misuse the Constitution to dismiss the State governments that were controlled
by rival parties. This undermined the spirit of federalism.

Coalition government formed in 1990 by coming together of at least two political

parties. Usually, partners in a coalition form a political alliance and adopt a common
programme.
For example, National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) and the Left Front.

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The Constitution declares India as a Union of States. Although the word ‘Federation’
is not used, the Indian Union is based on the principles of federation.

The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of government, the Union
Government or the Central Government representing Union of India and the State
Governments.

A third-tier of federation was added in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities.

The different tiers enjoy separate jurisdiction.

The Constitution provides for a three-fold distribution of legislative powers between

the Union Government and State Government. It contains three lists:

 Union List (97 Subjects),

 State List (66 Subjects),
 Concurrent List (47 Subjects).
 1. Union List includes subjects of national importance, i.e., defence of the
country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency.
2. State List contains subjects of state and local importance, i.e., police, trade,
commerce, agriculture and irrigation.
3. Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to both the Union
Government as well as the State Governments, i.e., education, forests, trade
unions, marriages, adoption and succession.

In case of dispute, law made by the Union Government shall prevail.

4. Residuary—Subjects which do not fall in any of the three lists, i.e., computer
software, etc. Union Government has the power to legislate such subjects.

This sharing of power between the Union Government and State Governments is
basic to the structure of the Constitution. Any change to it, has to be passed by both
the Houses of the Parliament with at least two-third majority.

The judiciary plays an important role in the implementation of constitutional

procedures. In case of any dispute about division of powers, the High Courts and the
Supreme Court make a decision.

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‘Coming together’ federations: ‘Holding together’ federations:

Independent states comes together on a large country decides to divide its

their own to form a bigger unit, so that power between the constituent States
by pooling sovereignty and retaining and the national government.
identity they can increase their security.

States usually have equal power and The Central Governments tend to be
are strong vis-à-vis the federal more powerful vis-a-vis the states.
government Some units are granted special powers

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

India is an example of ‘holding together’ federation where the Central Government is
more powerful vis-a-vis the states

All states in the Indian Union do not have identical powers.

Some states enjoy special status such as Jammu & Kashmir which has its own
Constitution.

Some units of the Indian Union, which are too small to become an independent state
and could not be merged with any of the existing states, are called Union Territories.

These territories do not have the powers of a State. The Central Government has
special powers in running these areas. They are also called ‘Centrally Administered
Territories’.

For example, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep.

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Language policy of India:

1. Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one
language.
2. The formation of linguistic states united the country and made administration
easier.
3. The leaders of our country adopted a very cautious attitude in spreading the
use of Hindi.
4. Hindi has been given the status of ‘Official language’ by the Constitution of
India..
5. The banning of use of English for official purposes in 1965 took a violent form
in Tamil Nadu. The Central Government responded by agreeing to continue the
use of English along with Hindi for official purposes.
6. Promotion of Hindi is an official policy of the Government of India but it does
not impose Hindi on states where people speak a different language.
7. Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as scheduled
languages by the Constitution.
8. Official work in Indian States is done in the official language of the concerned
state.
Some States were created not on the basis of language but to recognise differences
based on culture, ethnicity or geography. These include States like Nagaland,
Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. Formation of linguistic States has actually made the
country, more united

This flexibility shown by Indian leaders helped our country avoid the situation that Sri
Lanka finds itself in.

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India cannot be run only through these two-tiers. 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

The need for power sharing within these states resulted in the 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

A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992. The main objective of the
Constitutional Amendment in 1992 was to strengthen the three-tier system of
governance, i.e., make the Panchayati Raj Institution and the urban local bodies
more powerful and effective. They are directly under the control of state
governments.

Major steps towards decentralization taken in 1992 are:

 The State Election Commission was created to conduct Panchayat and

Municipal elections.
 It is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to Local Government
bodies.
 Seats are reserved in elected bodies for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes
and other backward classes (OBCs).
 Atleast one-third of all positions are reserved for women.
  The State Governments are required to share some powers and revenue with
Local Government bodies.

Advantages of decentralisation of power:

- When power is taken away from Central and State Governments and given to
local governments, 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.
- 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.

Structure of the Rural Local Government - Panachayati Raj

 Each village or group of villages has a Gram Panchayat.

 Panch, President or Sarpanch are directly elected by all the adult population
of the village and is the decision-making body.
 The Panchayat works under the supervision of Gram Sabha, with all the
voters as its members.
 The local structure goes up to the district level—a group of Gram Panchayats
form a Panchayat Samiti or Block or Mandal.
 All the Panchayat Samitis or Mandals together constitute the Zilla Parishad
which consists of elected members.
 Lok Sabha members, Local MLAs and officers are also members of the Zilla
Parishad.
 Its Chairperson is the political head of the Parishad.

Urban areas local bodies.

 Municipalities are set up in towns.
 Big cities are constituted into Municipal Corporations.
 Both are controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s representatives.
 Municipal chairperson is the political head of the Municipality.
The head of Municipal Corporation is an officer called the Mayor.