Types of Federalism
* Federalism is a system in which the Government power is divided between a central authority and its various constituent units.
* In federal system a state government has power of its own and is not answerable to the central government.
* There are two or more tiers or levels of Government The central government, the
* State Government and as an exception in India, a third tier or Local self government.
* The judiciary has the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of the different levels of government.
* There are two types of Federation; Coming Together Federation and Holding Together Federation.
* Every level is a free in its own way to impose taxes and raise funds through remunerative enterprises.
* Coming Together Federation involves independent states coming together to form a bigger unit.
* Holding Together Federation is one where a large country decides to divide its power between the constituent states and the national government.
What Makes India A Federal Country?
* India is a quasi federal country due to the power sharing ways.
* The constitution provides three fold distribution of legislative power between the central and the state governments.
* The three folds are the Union List, State List, and the concurrent List.
* The subjects that do not fall under any of the lists or which came up after the constitution was made are known as Residuary subjects.
* Indian federation us ‘Holding Together Federation’ and does not give equal powers to its constituents units.
* Any change has to be approved by one third majority in both the Houses of the Parliaments and then approved by the legislature of half of the total states.
* The judiciary administers both Union and State laws.
Success of Federalism in India
* The most important tests for the success of Federalism in India was the creation of Linguistic States, language Policy and Centre-State Relations.
* In 1956, under the State Reorganization Commission, the states were created on the basis of language.
* Our Official Language Act provides the English would remain the official language of the country so long as non- Hindi speaking states desire.
* The constitution of India made provision for division of powers between Centre and States.
* After 1990 when a coalition government was formed at the Centre regional parties became more powerful in the states and different parties formed alliances.
* The culture of power sharing and respect for autonomy of state government spread in India.
Decentralization in India
* When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to the Local Government bodies.
* The State Government are required to share some powers and revenue with local Government bodies.
* Rural Local government is popularly known as the Panchayati Raj and consists of the Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad.
* The Urban Local Government or Nagar palika comprises the Municipal Committees in towns and Municipal Corporation in big cities.