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.
  1. The partition of India and its concomitant concerns.
  2. To forge a national civic identity.
  3. It concerns the objective of building a welfare state.
  4. 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.