Federalism and the Formation of States in India

This article describes the features of India's federal system and process, and seeks to explain their effectiveness in terms of their symbiosis with the projects of nation-building and state-formation in India. This is done through a presentation of the basic structure of federalism in India and its political constraints. Federalism, along with parliamentarism, is axial principle of Government in India. Indian federalism is not a static entity. It has been evolving over the years form a predominantly parliamentary system. The flexibility of the federal process has made it possible for the state in India to accommodate ethno national movements in the form of new regions, thus gradually increasing both the number of states and the governability of the union.In this article we examine federal Process in India,structure,asymmetric federalism, andthe interaction between globalization and India's federal system, in the context of the country's past decade of economic reform.

The article examines the recent trends and issues in Indian federalism. The federal system has become transformedy in the last seven decades-from being dismissed as a full-fledged federal system to a widely acclaimed federal system in the world. Simply put, Indian federalism has become more meaningful and functional post-liberalisation. The article has examined this turnaround. From a subordinate position till the late 1980s, states rose to occupy a strategic position in India's move from a command economy to a market economy. No wonder, therefore, the Centre became more interested in involving states in even forbidden area such as foreign policy matters. Divisive politics in several states today is being replaced by developmental politics. States are not only competing but also learning from each other. States are being seen by the Centre as drivers of India's growth.

International Journal of Political Science and Governance , 2022

This paper tries to examine a deep overview of the working of Indian federalism in general and to the contemporary era in particular. This includes all those issues that have often been presented in recent times. Large numbers of debate and discussion therefore widely taking place around the federalist part whether the federal government that the country has adapted is in form of suit or ultra verse. On the other side, important significance also set forth on the norms of constitution and principal objectives of federalism. Hence, in federalism; both the centre and states is an equal partner and equal par excellence. They also guaranteed to believe in the assumption of 'self-rule' with 'share-rule'. But, several controversy and dichotomy have originated due to the uncertain nature as per in our practice that frequently challenged the federal working system of India. In short, a recent trend has occupies some of its significant stances to look upon the prime concern of federalism. However, such kind of discourses has been raised over more than seven decades. It is also a kind of attempt of the federal form. Critiques have also mentioned about various strengths and weaknesses of this system. Besides, it incorporated some definite trends that have come in our way to disturb the balance of power and cooperative character of Indian federalism. For instance, more recently, the political development around the citizen Amendment Act, 2019 and other related issues have generated a lot of debates in the understanding of federalism. In addition to this, there is some tension between the Union & the state on the implementation issue of NRC-CAA. The opposing state like Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal addresses that Indian federalism becoming more competitive than cooperative over time to time. Contrary to this, Interstate River disputes, increasing demand for the new state, Covid-19 and its impact on Indian federalism etc. have broadened, to sum up centre-state relations. To the finding, this paper offers different recommendations or possible suggestions for underpinning India's federal arrangement. Now, time has come for India and its Indians to take a fresh look in reviewing the federal ideas for restoring the federal irritants in order to maintain a sense of balance between centre-state and inter-states relations in India.

Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 2002

The Nuffield Foundation provided funding for a fieldtrip to India in February-April 1999 which allowed me to extend and update previous research, and which is very gratefully acknowledged. My thanks also to Stuart Corbridge and Glyn Williams for their comments and criticisms. The arguments in this paper have been presented at seminars and conferences in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Edinburgh, SOAS and Bristol, and in each place I received very helpful feedback. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers. The usual disclaimers apply. Word count: 9294 2 Redrawing the Body Politic: Federalism, Regionalism and the Creation of New States in India. In 2000 the federal map of India was redrawn to create three new States, signifying a significant shift in the attitude of many of India's major political parties towards territorial reorganisation. This paper suggests that a new era in the political economy of Indiaassociated with economic liberalisation; the rise of the Hindu Right; the regionalisation of politics; and the emergence of a coalitional system of government in New Delhiprovides a new 'field of opportunities' for regions demanding State recognition. The paper concludes that, in this matter, the major political parties are primarily by expediency and opportunism rather than, as is claimed, by an evaluation of the democratic and developmental potential of smaller States.

The Indian Journal of Political Science, 2024

India is considered as the largest democracy in the world. Federalism in India is an institutional mechanism to accommodate two sets of politics, one at the centre or national level and another at regional or state level. The Constitution of India has clearly divided power and subjects between states and union by making three different lists, which are union list, state list and concurrent list. Federalism in India after seven decades of independence is witnessing significant changes in all walks of life and faces a new set of challenges. This paper is an attempt to shed some light on recent disputes between union and state government and try to address these issues from sociological perspectives. As these issues are political in nature but their causes are deeply rooted in our social structure.

2020

In a period of widespread corruption, coupled with economic downturn, disconcerting issues related to autonomy and separate states, the management of grassroots level affairs by local communities in the wake of political consciousness and local aspirations and the issues of Centre-state relations are back on the political agenda. A legitimate question that arises in this context is: do we need to rethink federalism in India? This paper attempts to highlight the present challenges to the centre-state relations and explores the directions in which the national and state governments should move if the country is to achieve its goals of a strong, stable, economically vibrant nation.

Federalism in India " Insight into India's political structure and its colonialist traits " ederalism in India is more a well publicized project than a working reality. Like democracy and much published principles of Gandhian equality and self-determination, federalism in India is no more than a statement of good intention. Pandit Nehru and the small clique of political opportunists freely spoke of India's diversity of cultures and ethnicities but when it came to creating a federal framework to accommodate this multiplicity of aspirations for nationhood they were less than willing to look around for best practice. Instead they repeatedly made the excuse of India's specificity and the need to find a ‚home-grown' solution. The best examples of federalism are often stated to be those where there is a strong in-built tendency towards administrative and institutional decentralization; where local political self-definition is strongly reinforced by a corroborative local administration and fiscal system. In India, however, the idea of local government did not come to prominence until the 1990s. One therefore has to ask oneself the question that: if all the fundamental elements of federalism are absent, what is the appropriate word or adjective to describe the form of the Indian political structure? At closer attention one might discover that although the Indian situation might not be that ugly as historic logic leaves us to think, it is non-the-less deeply disturbing. Since a careful examination of the nature of federalism in India will forcefully lead us to ponder upon the colonial state of the sub-continent. One is left to consider the real possibility that colonialism did not end with the withdrawal of Britain from the Indian sub-continent. On the contrary, it might have been deepened and intensified, leaving no possibility for federalism in India to gain credibility. Before going into the heart of the matter I have to alert the reader that the study of Indian history is filled gaps, false assumptions, misplaced sympathy and wishful thinking. This means that objective inquiry will assume diverting from long established " tendencies " in the study of Indian history. To begin with there was an explosion of good intension from scholars, like the rest of India observers, since it was thought that India gained independence through non-violence. Given the background of the World War Two bloodbath, non-violence was a very commendable thing. Added to this there was a ‚poor country' assiduously trying to build a democratic system when everywhere it was considered to be a rare commodity. So whatever out-of-the-norm action was forgiven as a ‚false-step' of an infant democracy, it would have been deeply irresponsible to aim criticism against it. This was topped-up by the charisma of Gandhi and Nehru who commended esteem and respect at home and abroad, and directing criticism against them was almost treated as F

In spite of the fact that "federalism" is sandwiched in comparative politics. Efforts to study about federalism constitute a part of relative legislative issues i.e. comparative politics or political establishments since federalism isn't just cross-national but a multifaceted i.e. cross-cultural research as well. While the study of federalism has in numerous regards stretched to an advanced stage today, but nevertheless there remains a disturbing absence of arrangement with regards to the exact connotation of the concept. This study analysed basically, some issues and challenges in the concept of federalism in distinctive kind as a system of government in different states and nations of the world. The main objective of this work, however, has been to bring to attention the current new trends in federalism more specifically about the asymmetric nature of the Indian federalism and discover new patterns in federalism as observed by different researchers in different fields in connection to federalism. It isn't an attempt to give a complete scientific account in any case, but this paper would be dealing with some of the issues which would be essential in order to define the real concept of federalism in India. Moreover an attempt has been made to uncover, some of the essential ambiguities in the working of the federalism governance in the present political setting. Additionally, this article to a great extent is an attempt to express our hopeful worry over the capability of the standard of cooperative federalism in Indian conditions instead of a negation of it being the most ideal elective.

Special Issue of the monthly magazine Yojana, February 2015, on Indian Federalism