Political Science – Chapter 2
Class X
Swapna Menon
Learning Outcomes
❖ Know the meaning of Federalism and features of
federalism.
❖ Familiarize about two kinds of routes through which
federations can been formed.
❖ Analyse and infer how Federalism is being practiced in
India.
❖ Analyse and infer how the policies and politics that has
strengthen federalism in practice.
❖ Analyse and infer how
WHAT IS FEDERALISM ?
It is a system of government in which power
is divided between a central authority and
various constituent units of the country.
Levels of government in Federalism:
➢ Government for the entire country-
responsible for few subjects of common
national interest.
➢ Government at the level of provinces or
states- looks after the day-to-day
administering of their state.
Countries with Federal Political System
• Two or more levels or tiers of the government.
• Different tiers of the government govern the same citizens.
• Each tier has its own jurisdiction in specific matters of
legislation, taxation and administration.
• Jurisdiction is specified in the constitution, constitutionally
guaranteed existence and authority of each tier.
• Sources of revenue are clearly specified.
Objectives of Federalism
• To safeguard/ promote the unity of the
country.
• To accommodate regional diversity.
Two crucial aspects of Federalism
• Government at different levels should agree
to some rules of power sharing.
• Trust and agreement to live together is
mandatory.
Independent states together form
bigger union
coming together federation
States and Centre have equal
powers
Ways of power balance Enhance security by pooling their
between the central and sovereignty and identity. Ex: USA &
state government Australia
Large country divides its power
holding together federation between constituent units
Central government is more
powerful than the regional
states
Some units have special powers.
Different constituent units have
special powers. Ex: India & Spain
Power sharing practised in India
• Basic to the structure of constitution.
• Not easy to make changes in power sharing arrangement.
• Parliament cannot on its own change this arrangement.
• Any changes in it has to be passed by both the Houses of Parliament with
at least two third majority.
• Has to be ratified by legislatures of at least half of the total states.
How is federalism practiced?
• LINGUISTIC STATES :-
A lot of old states are not in the being currently and a ton of new states are being produced, the name of the zones,
states, and limits have been changed and the explanation for this was individuals who talked same languages lived
in a similar place and furthermore shared same societies and religions. For instance Nagaland, Uttarakhand, and
Jharkhand.
• LANGUAGE POLICY :-
The second test for Indian league is the dialect approach. Our constitution did not give the status of national dialect
to any one dialect. Hindi was viewed as the national dialect yet Hindi is additionally the first language of 40 for
every penny Indians so there was a considerable measure of shields to secure different dialects, other than Hindi
there were around 21 different dialects.
• CENTER-STATE RELATIONS :-
Reproducing the middle state is one route in which federalism has been strengthed by and by since 1990
COALITION GOVT. were on the inside on the grounds that no single gathering got a reasonable greater part in the
Lok Sabha, the real national gatherings needed to go into an organization together with many gatherings including
a few local gatherings to shape a legislature at the Center.
Language Policy In India
Non Hindi speakers demanded that the use of English
should be continued
Think about it
Should the state go
to the Centre with
a begging bowl?
How can the leader
of a coalition keep
the partners of
government satisfied?
The leader of a coalition keep the
partners of government satisfied by
giving some or other powers and
privileges to every partner
according to the proportions of
their participation in the
government.
Should the state go
to the Centre with a
begging bowl?
the state should go to the centre
not with a begging bowl, not for
more powers but for some
privileges and financial preferences
and security.
Power is taken away from Central and State government.
Given to Local government
Basic idea behind Decentralisation
• Solving large number of problems and issues at local level.
• People have better knowledge of problems in localities.
• Better ideas on where to spend money and how to manage things
efficiently.
• Peoples participation in decision making.
• To realize one important principle of democracy Local Government.
•The rural local government is popularly known by the
name panchayati raj.
•This is a council consisting of several ward
members, often called panch, and a president or
sarpanch.
•They are directly elected by all the adult population
living in that ward or village.
•It is the decision-making body for the entire village.
•All the Panchayat Samiti or Mandals in a district
together constitute the Zilla Parishad.
•Local government bodies exist for urban areas as
well.
•Big cities are constituted into municipal corporations.
•This new system of local government is the largest
experiment in democracy conducted anywhere in the
world.
