Quasi-federalism - Ensuring flexibility and accommodating diversity to India’s federalism in original form
- India consciously adopted a version of federalism that made the Union government and State governments interdependent on each other (with latter more vis-a-vis the former)
Ambedkar
”India’s federation is a Union as it is indestructible.” ”India’s Constitution holds requisite flexibility to be federal and unitary on a need basis.”
The Centralised Federal Structure
- There are four main reasons why India adopted a centralised federal structure.
- The partition of India and its concomitant concerns.
- To forge a national civic identity.
- It concerns the objective of building a welfare state.
- To alleviate inter-regional economic inequality.
- The structure’s effectiveness is solely dependent on the intent and objectives a government aims to achieve.
- The contemporary discourse on federalism in India is moving on a discursive note across multiple dimensions, be it economic, political and cultural.
Federal, quasi federal or Both
India’s adoption to federalism violates the primal characteristic of a federal constitution i.e., autonomous spheres of authority for Union and State governments.
- Other constitutional features include the size and composition of Rajya Sabha akin to the Lok Sabha thereby favouring larger States.
- Union possesses more authority than the State barring a few exceptions:
- Centre’s power(Article 3)to alter the boundaries of a State without the latter’s consent,
- Emergency powers,
- Concurrent list of subjects of the Seventh Schedule.
- India’s centralised federal structure was not marked by the process of ‘coming together’ but was an outcome of ‘holding together’ and ‘putting together’.
Supreme Court Verdict
- Federalism is a part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution in the S.R. Bommai vs Union of India case(1994)
- The Indian variant of federalism upholds a strong centre in the Kuldip Nayar vs Union of India case (2006).
Centralised Federal Structure - Reasons in support
Primary Reason
- Partition of India and the concomitant concerns.
- Anticipating the Muslim League’s participation in the Constituent Assembly debates following the Cabinet Mission plan in 1946.
- The Objectives Resolution introduced by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Assembly were inclined towards a decentralised federal structure (States wield residuary powers)
Other Reasons
- Objective of building a welfare state.
- The reconstitution of social relations in a highly hierarchical and discriminatory society towards forging a national civic identity.
- Nehru and Ambedkar believed that a centralised federal structure would unsettle prevalent trends of social dominance & help fight poverty better.
- The alleviation of inter-regional economic inequality.
- Provincial interventions seemed to exacerbate inequalities.
- India’s membership in the International Labour Organisation, the Nehru Report (1928), and the Bombay Plan (1944) pushed for a centralised system.
- To foster socio-economic rights and safeguards for the working and entrepreneurial classes.
Conclusion
The current form of federalism in the Indian context is largely a function of the intent of the government of the day and the objectives it seeks to achieve. It would be safe to argue that our federal set-up is a conscious choice, its furthering or undoing, will depend on the collective will of the citizenry and the representatives they vote to power.
Exam Track
Prelims Takeaway
- Federalism
- Quasi Federalism
- Centralised Federal Structure
- S.R. Bommai vs Union of India case(1994)
Mains Takeaway
Q. India’s adoption to federalism violates the primal characteristic of a federal constitution, Examine.