Federal System

• Federalism is an institutional mechanism to accommodate two sets of polities, i.e., first is the center or national level and second is at the provincial or regional level. Both the sets of polities are autonomous in its own sphere.
• Each level of the polity has distinct powers and responsibilities and has a separate system of government.
• The details of this federalism or dual system of government are generally found in a written constitution.
• Written Constitution is considered to be supreme and also the source of the power of both sets of government.
• Certain subjects, which are the concern of a nation as a whole, for example, defense or currency, are the responsibility of the union or central government.
• On the other hand, regional or local matters are the responsibility of the regional or state government.
• In case of a conflict between the center and the state on any issue, the judiciary has the powers to resolve the disputes.
• Though the Indian Constitution does not use the word ‘federalism’ anywhere; however, the structure of Indian government is divided into two sets of governments i.e.

  --> For the entire nation known as the ‘Union Government’ (or central government) and

  --> For each unit or state known as the ‘State Government.’

The following diagram illustrates the basic structure of “Federal System” −

Subjects of Federal System

• The Constitution clearly demarcates subjects, which are under the exclusive domain of the Union and those under the exclusive of States.
• Likewise, the Constitution describes three lists −

  --> Union List (subjects dealt by only Central Government);

  --> State List (subjects dealt normally by States only); and

  --> Concurrent List (both Union and State have the power to legislate these subjects).

Union List

Subjects of Union List are −

• Defense
• Atomic Energy
• Foreign Affairs
• War and Peace
• Banking
• Railways
• Post and Telegraph
• Airways
• Ports
• Foreign Trade
• Currency & Coinage

State List

Subjects of State Lists are −

• Agriculture
• Police
• Prison
• Local Government
• Public Heath
• Land
• Liquor
• Trade and Commerce
• Livestock and Animal Husbandry
• State Public Services

Concurrent List

Subjects of Concurrent Lists are −

• Education
• Transfer of Property other than Agricultural land
• Forests
• Trade Unions
• Adulteration
• Adoption and Succession

Other Facts

• Article 257 of the Constitution is read as: The executive power of every State shall be so exercised as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive power of the Union, and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of such directions to a State as may appear to the Government of India to be necessary for that purpose.
• The Sarkaria Commission was appointed by the central government in 1983 to examine the issues relating to center-State relations; the Commission submitted its report in 1988 and recommended that appointments of Governors should be strictly non-partisan.
• In 1953, the States Reorganization Commission was set up and it recommended the creation of linguistic States, at least for the major linguistic groups.
• Resultantly, Gujarat and Maharashtra were created in 1960 and the process is still going on.
• The Constitution of India (under Article 371) has given some special provisions for some States after considering their peculiar social and historical circumstances. However, most of the special provisions are related to the north eastern States (i.e. Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, etc.) largely due to a sizeable indigenous tribal population with a distinct history and culture.
• Under Article 370 of the Constitution, the northern most state Jammu and Kashmir has also special provisions.
• One of the major differences between the other States and the State of J&K are that no emergency due to internal disturbances can be declared in J&K without the concurrence of the State.
• The Union Government cannot impose a financial emergency in J&K and the Directive Principles also do not apply in J&K.
• An amendment to the Indian Constitution (under Art. 368) can only apply in concurrence with the government of J&K.

Center State Relation

Articles 245 to 263 of Part XI and Articles 268 to 293 of Part XII describe three types of Center-State relations i.e. Legislative, Administrative, and Financial.

Legislative Relations

• Articles 245 to 255 describe Legislative relations.
• Article 245 (1) states that Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament may make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India, and the Legislature of a State may make laws for the whole or any part of the State.
• Article 245 (2) states that no law made by Parliament shall be deemed to be invalid on the ground that it would have extra-territorial operation.
• Article 246 states that the Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List I (i.e. Union List) and List III (i.e. Concurrent List) of the Seventh Schedule.
• Article 248 states that the Parliament has exclusive power to make any law with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Concurrent List or State List.
• Further, Article 250 states that notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, Parliament shall, while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, have power to make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List.

Administrative Relations

• Articles 255 to 263 describe Legislative relations.
• Article 256 states that the executive power of every State shall be so exercised as to ensure compliance with the laws made by Parliament and any existing laws which apply in that State, and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of such directions to a State as may appear to the Government of India to be necessary for that purpose.
• Article 257 (1) states that the executive power of every State shall be so exercised as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive power of the Union, and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of such directions to a State as may appear to the Government of India to be necessary for that purpose.
• Article 258 (2) states that a law made by Parliament which applies in any State may, notwithstanding that it relates to a matter with respect to which the Legislature of the State has no power to make laws, confer powers and impose duties, or authorize the conferring of powers and the imposition of duties, upon the State or officers and authorities thereof.
• Article 261 (3) states that final judgments or orders delivered or passed by civil courts in any part of the territory of India shall be capable of execution anywhere within that territory according to law.
• Article 262 (1) states that Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley.
• Article 262 (2) states that notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may be law provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as is referred to in clause (1).

Financial Relations

• Articles 268 to 293 describe Financial relations.
• Article 268 describes the Duties levied by the Union but collected and appropriated by the States.
• Article 269 describes the Taxes levied and collected by the Union but assigned to the States.
• Article 270 describes the Taxes levied and distributed between the Union and the States.

Emergency Provision

• PART XVIII and Articles 352 to 360 describe the emergency provisions of India.
• Under the Indian Constitution, there are three types of emergency provisions −

  --> National Emergency;

  --> Failure of constitutional machinery in state/s or President’s Rule; and

  --> Financial Emergency.

National Emergency

• Article 352 states that if the President is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India or of any part of the territory thereof is threatened, whether by war or external aggression or armed rebellion, he may, by Proclamation, make a declaration to that effect in respect of the whole of India or of such part of the territory thereof as may be specified in the Proclamation.
• However, Article 352 (4) states that every Proclamation issued under this article shall be laid before each House of Parliament and shall, except where it is a Proclamation revoking a previous Proclamation, cease to operate at the expiration of one month unless before the expiration of that period it has been approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament.
• Further, Article 352 (5) states that a Proclamation so approved shall, unless revoked, cease to operate on the expiration of a period of six months from the date of the passing of the second of the resolutions approving the Proclamation under clause (4).
• Article 353 states that while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, then the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to any State as to the manner in which the executive power thereof is to be exercised.

Failure of constitutional machinery in state/s or President’s Rule

• Article 356 states that if the President, on receipt of a report from the Governor of a State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, then he (the President) may issue state emergency.
• Article 356 (3) states that every Proclamation under this article shall be laid before each House of Parliament and shall, except where it is a Proclamation revoking a previous Proclamation, cease to operate at the expiration of two months unless before the expiration of that period it has been approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament.
• Further, Article 356 (4) states that a Proclamation so approved shall, unless revoked, cease to operate on the expiration of a period of six months from the date of issue of the Proclamation.
• Article 357 states that where by a Proclamation issued under clause (1) of Article 356, it has been declared that the powers of the Legislature of the State shall be exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament.
• Article 359 states that where a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, the President may by order declare that the right to move any court for the enforcement of such of the rights conferred by Part III (except articles 20 and 21) as may be mentioned in the order and all proceedings pending in any court for the enforcement of the rights so mentioned shall remain suspended for the period during which the Proclamation is in force or for such shorter period as may be specified in the order.

Financial Emergency

• Article 360 states that if the President is satisfied that a situation has arisen whereby the financial stability or credit of India or of any part of the territory thereof is threatened, he may by a Proclamation make a declaration to that effect.
• Article 360 (4) (b) states that it shall be competent for the President during the period any Proclamation issued under this article is in operation to issue directions for the reduction of salaries and allowances of all or any class of persons serving in connection with the affairs of the Union including the Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

Political Parties

• Indian governance system has multi-party system and the political parties are categorized as −
  --> National Political Party;
  --> State or Regional (level) Political Party.
• The recognition and status of political parties are reviewed and authorized by the Election Commission of India.

Eligibility of National Political Party

• However, to be eligible for a ‘National Political Party of India,’ the Election Commission has set the following criteria −

  --> It secures at least six percent of the valid votes polled in any four or more states, at a general election to the House of the People or, to the State Legislative Assembly; and

  --> In addition, it wins at least four seats in the House of the People from any State or States.

  OR

  It wins at least two percent seats in the House of the People (i.e., 11 seats in the existing House having 543 members), and these members are elected from at least three different States.

Eligibility of State Political Party

• To be eligible for a ‘State Political Party,’ the Election Commission has set the following criteria −

  --> It secures at least six percent of the valid votes polled in the State at a general election, either to the House of the People or to the Legislative Assembly of the State concerned; and

  --> In addition, it wins at least two seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State concerned.

  OR

  It wins at least three percent (3%) of the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State, or at least three seats in the Assembly, whichever is more.

• The following table illustrates the major National Political Parties of India − Political Party Name Abbreviation Founded in Current Leader Indian National Congress INC 1885 Sonia Gandhi Communist Party of India CPI 1925 Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI -M 1964 Sitaram Yechury Bharatiya Janata Party BJP 1980 Amit Shah Bahujan Samaj Party BSP 1985 Mayavati

Constitutional Amendments

• Under Article 368 (specific provision) of the Constitution, the Parliament is the repository of the constituent power of the Union and hence, it can amend the Constitutional provision as per the requirement/s (within the circumscribed limit).
• Article 368 (1) states that notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the Parliament may exercise its constituent power amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any provision of this Constitution in accordance with the procedure laid down in this article.
• Article 368 (2) states that an amendment of this Constitution may be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill for the purpose in either House of Parliament, and when the Bill is passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting, it shall be presented to the President who shall give his assent to the Bill and thereupon the Constitution shall stand amended in accordance with the terms of the Bill.
• Article 368 (4) states that no amendment of this Constitution (including the provisions of Part III) made or purporting to have been made under this article whether before or after the commencement of section 55 of the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 shall be called in question in any court on any ground.
• Article 368 (5) states that for the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that there shall be no limitation whatever on the constituent power of Parliament to amend by way of addition, variation or repeal the provisions of this Constitution under this article.

Constitutional Schedules

Primarily, there were only eight Schedules; however, four schedules were added after subsequent amendments.

Summary of all twelve schedules is illustrated in the following table −