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(The Indian Express launches a new series of articles for UPSC aspirants written by seasoned writers and erudite scholars on issues and concepts spanning History, Polity, International Relations, Art, Culture and Heritage, Environment, Geography, Science and Technology, and so on. Read and reflect with subject experts and boost your chance of cracking the much-coveted UPSC CSE. In the first article of the series, political scientist Madhukar Shyam unravels the concept of Federalism and briefly examines its evolution in India.)
In the last decade, the government has been emphasising more on cooperative and competitive federalism through National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. However, many state governments often allege that the Union government is not sharing the fund of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation and this has led to a confrontational federalism. So, what is federalism?
Federalism divides power between the central/federal government and its member states. How does it work? A constitutional framework provides the institutional underpinning for federalism. It usually serves two purposes: first, to lessen the likelihood of a tyranny of the majority; second, to strengthen the union.
What are the types of federalism? Generally, it can be classified into three different types – Holding Together Federation, Coming Together Federation and Asymmetrical Federation. In Holding Together Federation, powers are shared between various constituent parts to accommodate the diversity in a country. In such cases, the central authority often holds the upper hand. India, Spain, and Belgium are included in this group.
Coming Together Federation stands for an arrangement where separate states combine to create a more unified entity. In this case, states enjoy greater autonomy compared to a holding federation. Examples include the United States, Australia, and Switzerland.
Asymmetrical Federation refers to a form of federalism in which the components that make up a nation have uneven powers and relationships in the domains of politics, administration, and finance. One can see asymmetry in a federation’s arrangements from both a vertical (between the states and the centre) and a horizontal (among the states) perspectives. For instance, Russia (Chechnya), Ethiopia (Tigray), Canada (Quebec), and India with the sole exception, of course, was the state of Jammu and Kashmir (till 2019). Also, there are various clauses in Article 371 which accord special powers to India’s north-eastern states.
The journey of India towards federalism began with its struggle for independence from colonial rule. The demand for autonomy and self-governance had a significant influence on a variety of linguistic, cultural, and geographical groupings. The framers of the Indian Constitution recognised the need to uphold our ethos, i.e. unity in diversity. Consequently, the Indian Constitution established a federal system of governance. It possesses all the traits of a federation such as bicameralism, two governments (the Union and the State), a written constitution that is neither too easy nor too stiff to amend, and an independent court to uphold the system of checks and balances.
The Indian constitution also contains many unitary or non-federal elements, including a powerful union government, a single constitution, a single citizenship, the appointment of state governors by the central government, all-India services, emergency provisions, and so on. Moreover, the term “federation” is not used in the Constitution.
Nevertheless, Article 1 of the constitution refers to India as a “Union of States”, suggesting that no state has the power to secede from the federation and that the Indian Federation is not the result of an agreement reached by individual states.
India is hence referred to as a “holding together federation”, while political analyst K. C. Wheare describes Indian federalism as quasi-federalism. In a quasi-federal system, the union has more authority than the states.
Since independence, the evolution of federalism in India has been dynamic and can be examined along various phases, i.e. inner-party federalism, multi-party federalism, co-operative federalism, competitive federalism, confrontational federalism and bargaining federalism.
Inner-party federalism: During the first phase of federalism (1950-68), major disputes between the federal government and the states were resolved in Congress party forums, or what political scientist Rajni Kothari called the “Congress System”. This helped contain or prevent major federal conflicts and create a consensus-based form of “inner-party federalism”.
However, in 1959, the then Union government toppled Kerala’s state government, which signalled the Center’s early assertion of power over the states. Moreover, the Congress Party suffered a great loss of autonomy after the party split in 1969. In this phase, because of the party’s extreme centralisation and authoritarianism under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the Congress party completely subordinated its regional leaders and organisational structures.
After the formation of Bangladesh, the Government of India was, nonetheless, praised across the country along with the slogan of “Garibi Hatao” (Let’s get rid of poverty), and the 20-point programme for the welfare of people. It aided Congress (I) in maintaining its dominance in the national elections during this period, with the exception of the 1977 election. However, due to organisational shortcomings at the local level, the party’s social base started to disintegrate. The centralising tendencies of the centre contributed to massive political crises that erupted in states like Assam, Punjab, Kashmir, and Mizoram in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Multi-Party Federalism: The 1990s saw the coalition period, also known as multi-party federalism, in which national parties were not able to win a majority in parliament. National coalitions led by the Congress (UPA) and and BJP (NDA) maintained influence in the union with the help of regional powers. This period saw a decline in the intensity of Center-state confrontations as well as in the Center’s arbitrary use of Article 356 to topple state administrations. A 1994 Supreme Court ruling (SR Bommai v. Union of India case verdict) that questioned the Center’s arbitrary use of the provision is partly responsible for this.
Co-operative federalism: During this period, the Indian economy was also liberalised, giving chief ministers and state governments a considerable amount of autonomy to initiate businesses and attract foreign investment to their regions. This enabled them to build their own political brands based on growth and development. Strengthening the foundation from the bottom up, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts of 1992 further empowered local self-government. Thus, true federalism was made possible by the discussions and contests between the Union and states during this period.
Competitive federalism: In terms of governance, the federal government advocated co-operative federalism and agreed on measures like enacting the GST law, establishing the GST Council and NITI Aayog, and approving the Finance Commission’s suggestion to raise the states’ funding share. In addition, NITI Aayog works to advance competitive federalism by supporting the states’ and Union Territories’ enhanced performance. Through open rankings in a number of areas and a helping hand, it promotes healthy competition across states. The School Education Quality Index, State Health Index, Composite Water Management Index, India Innovation Index, Sustainable Development Goals Index, and Export Competitiveness Index are a few indexes that NITI Aayog has introduced. Every month, NITI Aayog also publishes delta rankings showing how Aspirational Districts are performing.
However, some states and the Union continued to disagree on a number of policy matters, including the Citizenship Amendment Act, agriculture legislation, GST compensation, and support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Confrontational federalism: Federalism under the “dominant party” reappeared with the NDA’s rise in 2014. Concurrently, the party solidified its grip on power by taking over several states. However, regional parties disputed the NDA’s victories in the state elections to some extent. Confrontational federalism emerges during times of significant federal disputes between states led by the opposition and the centre. Examples include state programme blockages, governor abuse, state fiscal centralisation, state government instability, and subversion of state rights.
Bargaining federalism: Under bargaining federalism, the centre takes on the role of a patriarch or big brother. Due to the centre’s greater negotiating strength, bargaining federalism highlights states’ disadvantageous position. However, during the 1990s, state governments’ bargaining strength increased due to the regionalisation of the party system and open economy.
To summarise, Indian federalism entered a new phase after 1991 when states engaged in bargaining or negotiation to settle disputes pertaining to both politics and economy. The answer is, thus, negotiation federalism. It has been used in the past to resolve disagreements between states, such as the one over Karnataka and Goa’s territory or disputes over water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Therefore, it is possible to argue that cooperative and competitive federalism are inherently advantageous, but confrontational federalism maintains that the state and federal governments ought to bargain or negotiate on behalf of the people. The ultimate objective of federalism is to accept diverse issues and offer a common path so that welfare and national advancement come first.
What is federalism?
Why is Indian federalism described as quasi-federalism?
What are the unitary elements of Indian federalism?
Indian federalism faced several issues and challenges over time. Discuss.
How is Indian federalism different from American federalism?
(Dr. Madhukar Shyam is the Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Delhi.)
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