Chapter 2-FEDERALISM

CLASS 10th - SOCIAL SCIENCE - FEDERALISM (CHAPTER 2)
Introduction: Democratic Politics - II
We will focus on power sharing, referred as federalism.
We begin by describing federalism in general terms.
Try to understand the theory and practice of federalism.
Towards the end of the chapter, we turn to the local

government, a new and third tier of Indian federalism.
What is Federalism? Democratic Politics - II
Let us get back to the stories of previous:
Belgium:
➔ One of the key changes made in the Constitution of

Belgium was to reduce the power of the Central
Government and to give these powers to the regional
governments.
➔ Belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of

government.
Sri Lanka:
➔ Sri Lanka continues to be a unitary system where the

national government has all the powers.
➔ Tamil leaders want Sri Lanka to become a federal system.

Federalism is a system of government in which the power is
divided between a central authority and various constituent
units of the country.
➔ Usually, a federation has two levels of government:
1. The government for the entire country that is usually

responsible for a few subjects of common national
interest.
2. Governments at the level of provinces or states that look

after much of the day-to-day administering of their
state.
Both these levels of governments enjoy their power

independent of the other.
Difference between Federal and Unitary systems:
In Unitary system,
● Either there is only one level of government or the

sub-units are subordinate to the central government.
● The central government can pass on orders to the
provincial or the local government.
In Federal system,
● The central government cannot order the state

government to do something.
● State government has powers of its own for which it is
not answerable to the central government.
● Both these governments are separately answerable to
the people.
Let us look at some of the key features of federalism:
1. There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.
2. Different tiers of government govern the same citizens,

but each tier has its own JURISDICTION in specific
matters of legislation, taxation and administration.
3. The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of

government are specified in the constitution. So the
existence and authority of each tier of government is
constitutionally guaranteed.
4. The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot

be unilaterally changed by one level of government.
Such changes require the consent of both the levels of
government.
5. Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and
the powers of different levels of government. The
highest court acts as an umpire if disputes arise
between different levels of government in the exercise
of their respective powers.
6. Sources of revenue for each level of government are

clearly specified to ensure its financial autonomy.
7. The federal system thus has dual objectives: to

safeguard and promote unity of the country, while at
the same time accommodate regional diversity.
The exact balance of power between the central and the state
government varies from one federation to another.This
balance depends mainly on the historical context in which
the federation was formed.
There are two kinds of routes:
1. ‘Coming together’ federations

2. ‘Holding together’ federations
‘Coming together’ federations:
1. Independent States coming together on their own to

form a bigger unit, so that by pooling sovereignty and
retaining identity they can increase their security.
2. This type of ‘coming together’ federations include the
USA, Switzerland and Australia.
3. All the constituent States usually have equal power and
are strong vis-à-vis the federal government.
‘Holding together’ federations:
1. A large country decides to divide its power between the

constituent States and the national government.
2. India, Spain and Belgium are examples of this kind of
‘holding together’ federations.
3. The central government tends to be more powerful vis-
à-vis the States.
4. Very often different constituent units of the federation
have unequal powers.
5. Some units are granted special powers.
What Makes India a Federal Country? Democratic Politics - II
We have earlier seen how small countries like Belgium and Sri
Lanka face so many problems of managing diversity.
➔ What about a vast country like India, with so many

languages, religions and regions?
➔ What are the power sharing arrangements in our country?
The Constitution declared India as a Union of States. Although it

did not use the word federation, the Indian Union is based on the
principles of federalism.
The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of

government
Union government State government
Municipality, Panchayat
Let us understand these tiers more clearly.
The Constitution clearly provided a threefold distribution of

legislative powers between the Union Government and the
State Governments.
Thus, it contains three lists:

➔Union List:
➔ Includes: Subjects of national importance such as

defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking,
communications and currency.
➔ Reason: We need a uniform policy on these matters

throughout the country.
➔ Who can make laws: The Union Government alone can

make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the
Union List.
State List:
➔ Includes: Subjects of State and local importance such as

police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation. The
State Governments forest, trade unions, marriage,
adoption and succession.
➔ Reason: If their laws conflict with each other, the law

made by the Union Government will prevail.
➔ Who can make laws: Both the Union as well as the State
Governments can make laws on the subjects mentioned
in this list.
What about subjects that do not fall in any of the three lists?
Or that came after constitution was made?
➔ According to our constitution, the Union Government

has the power to legislate on these ‘residuary’ subjects.
‘Holding together’ federations do not give equal power to its

constituent units.
➔ Some States enjoy a special status.
➔ States such as Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh

and Mizoram enjoy special powers under certain
provisions of the Constitution of India (Article 371) due to
their peculiar social and historical circumstances.
These special powers are especially enjoyed in relation to:
➔ The protection of land rights of indigenous peoples, their

culture and also preferential employment in
government services.
➔ Indians who are not permanent residents of this State

cannot buy land or house here.
Similar special provisions exist for some other States of India

as well.
Union Territories:
➔ Some units of the Indian Union which enjoy very little

power.
➔ Areas which are too small to become an independent

State but which could not be merged with any of the
existing States.
➔ These areas, like Chandigarh, or Lakshadweep or the

capital city of Delhi, are called Union Territories.
➔ These territories do not have the powers of a State.
➔ The Central Government has special powers in running

these areas.
We also need to keep in mind:
➔ This sharing of power between the Union Government

and the State governments is basic to the structure of
the Constitution,not easy to make changes in it.
How can changes be made?
➔ The Parliament cannot on its own change this

arrangement.
➔ Any change to it has to be first passed by both the

Houses of Parliament with at least two-thirds majority.
➔ Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least

half of the total States.
Role of Judiciary in it:
➔ Plays an important role in overseeing the

implementation of constitutional provisions and
procedures.
➔ In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the

High Courts and the Supreme Court make a decision.
➔ The Union and State governments have the power to

raise resources by levying taxes in order to carry on the
government and the responsibilities assigned to each of
them.
How is Federalism Practised? Democratic Politics - II
How has federal experiment succeeded in India?
The nature of democratic politics in India,ensured that the

spirit of federalism, respect for diversity and desire for living
together became shared ideals in our country.
Let us look at some of the major ways in which this happened.

Linguistic States:
➔ First and a major test for democratic politics in our

country: Creation of linguistic States.
➔ Political map of India(1947-2019): Many old States have

vanished,new States have been created. Areas,
boundaries and names of the States have been
changed.
➔ In 1947 it was done as: To ensure that people who spoke

the same language lived in the same State.
➔ Some States were created not on the basis of language

but to recognise differences based on culture, ethnicity
or geography. These include States like Nagaland,
Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
Linguistic States:
➔ National leaders feared: Demand for linguistic states might

lead to disintegration of the country,resisted for sometime.
➔ Conclusion: The formation of linguistic States has actually

made the country, more united. It has also made
administration easier
Linguistic Policy:
➔ A second test for Indian federation: The language policy.
➔ Our Constitution did not give the status of national

language to any one language.
➔ Hindi was identified as the official language,but it is the

mother tongue of only 40%.
➔ Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as

Scheduled Languages by the Constitution.
➔ A candidate can opt any of these languages in examination

to central government.
➔ States too have their own official languages.

Linguistic Policy:
➔ Much of the government work takes place in the official

language of the concerned State .
Unlike Sri Lanka, the leaders of our country adopted a very

cautious attitude in spreading the use of Hindi.
➔ According to the Constitution, the use of English for official

purposes was to stop in 1965.
➔ Movements started by non-hindi speaking states.
➔ The Central Government responded by agreeing to
continue the use of English along with Hindi for official
purposes.
➔ Central Government cannot impose Hindi on States where
people speak a different language.
The flexibility shown by Indian political leaders helped our

country avoid the kind of situation that Sri Lanka finds itself in.
Centre-State relations:
➔ Restructuring the Centre-State relations is one more way in

which federalism has been strengthened in practice.
➔ How the constitutional arrangements for sharing power

work in reality depends to a large extent on how the ruling
parties and leaders follow these arrangements.
➔ In those days, the Central Government would often misuse

the Constitution to dismiss the State governments that
were controlled by rival parties.
➔ This undermined the spirit of federalism.
All this changed significantly after 1990.
➔ Beginning of the era of COALITION GOVERNMENTS at the

Centre.
Centre-State relations:
Why coalition government?
➔ Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha,

the major national parties had to enter into an alliance with
many parties including several regional parties to form a
government at the Centre.
➔ This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for

the autonomy of State Governments.
Thus, federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in

the early years after the Constitution came into force.
Decentralisation in India: Democratic Politics - II
When power is taken away from Central and State

governments and given to local government, it is called
decentralisation.
The basic idea behind decentralisation:
● People have better knowledge of problems in their

localities.
● Have better ideas on where to spend money and how to

manage things more efficiently.
● At the local level it is possible for the people to directly

participate in decision making.
Local government is the best way to realise one important

principle of democracy, namely local self-government.
The need for decentralisation was recognised in our
Constitution,steps were taken but limited:
● Panchayats and municipalities were there but under

control of state government.
● Elections to these local governments were not held

regularly.
● Local governments did not have any powers or

resources of their own.
Thus, there was very little decentralisation in effective terms.

A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992.
The Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of

democracy more powerful and effective.
➔ Regular local elections: It is constitutionally mandatory

to hold regular elections to local government bodies.
➔ Reservation for backward classes: Seats are reserved in
the elected bodies and the executive heads of these
institutions for SCs,STs and OBCs.
➔ Reservation for women: At least one-third of all
positions are reserved for women.
➔ Commission for state elections: An independent
institution,the State Election Commission has been
created, to conduct panchayat and municipal elections.
➔ Source of Revenue: The State governments are required
to share some powers and revenue with local
government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from
State to State.
Panchayati Raj:
➔ Rural local government is popularly known by the name

panchayati raj.
➔ Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a

gram panchayat.
➔ 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.
➔ It is the decision-making body for the entire village.

Panchayati Raj:
➔ The panchayat works under the overall supervision of

the gram sabha.
➔ All the voters in the village are its members.
➔ It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to

approve the annual budget of the gram panchayat and
to review the performance of the gram panchayat.
Panchayat samiti or block or mandal:
➔ The local government structure goes right up to the

district level.A few gram panchayats are grouped
together.
➔ The members of this representative body are elected by
all the panchayat members in that area.
Zilla Parishad:
➔ All the panchayat samitis or mandals in a district

together constitute the zilla (district) parishad.
➔ Most members of the zilla parishad are elected.
➔ Members of the Lok Sabha and MLAs of that district and

some other officials of other district level bodies are also
its members.
➔ Zilla parishad chairperson is the political head of the

zilla parishad.
Similarly, local government bodies exist for urban areas as

well.
Municipalities and Municipal Corporations:
➔ These are set up in towns.
➔ Big cities are constituted into municipal corporations.
➔ Both municipalities and municipal corporations are

controlled by elected bodies consisting of people’s
representatives.
➔ Municipal chairperson is the political head of the

municipality.
➔ In a municipal corporation such an officer is called the

mayor.
Consequences of this new system of local government:
➔ It is the largest experiment in democracy conducted

anywhere in the world.
➔ There are now about 36 lakh elected representatives in

the panchayats and municipalities etc., all over the
country.
➔ This number is bigger than the population of many

countries in the world.
➔ Constitutional status for local government has helped

to deepen democracy in our country.
➔ It has also increased women’s representation and voice

in our democracy.
Consequences of this new system of local government:
At the same time, there are many difficulties.
➔ While elections are held regularly and enthusiastically,

gram sabhas are not held regularly.
➔ Most state governments have not transferred

significant powers to the local governments.
➔ Nor have they given adequate resources.
We are thus still a long way from realising the ideal of

self-government.
CLASS 10th - SOCIAL SCIENCE - FEDERALISM - NCERT SOLUTIONS
Answer the Following Questions: Democratic Politics - II
Que. 1 Locate the following States on a blank outline
political map of India: Manipur, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh
and Goa.
Ans. Sikkim
r
nipu
M a
rh
ga
Goa
tis
at
hh
C
Que. 2 Identify and shade three federal countries (other than India)
on a blank outline political map of the world.
Ans.
Que. 3 Point out one feature in the practice of federalism in
India that is similar to and one feature that is different from
that of Belgium.
Ans.
● Feature in the practice of federalism in India that is

similar to that of Belgium – There is power-sharing
between the union government and state government.
● Feature in the practice of federalism in India that is

different from that of Belgium – India has no community
government in practice, while Belgium has one.
Que. 4 What is the main difference between a federal
form of government and a unitary one? Explain with an
example.
Ans.
Federal Form Unitary Form
There is a sharing of power between The power is centralised with the

union and state government. union government, and there is no
role of state governments.
Example – India (India is a federal Example – Sri Lanka (The national

country with union government at government has all the powers).
the centre and state governments at
the state level and Panchayati Raj at
the local level).
Que. 5 State any two differences between the local government before and
after the Constitutional amendment in 1992.
Ans.
Local Government Post

Local Government Pre-1992
Constitutional Amendment 1992
Elections to these local Now, it is constitutionally mandated

governments were not held to hold regular elections to local
regularly. government bodies.
Local governments did not have The State governments are required
any powers or resources of their to share some powers and revenue
own. with local government bodies. The
nature of sharing varies from State
to State.
Que. 6 Fill in the blanks:
Since the United States is a __________ type of federation,

all the constituent States have equal powers and States are
__________ vis-a-vis the federal government. But India is
a __________ type of federation and some States have
more power than others. In India, the __________
government has more powers.
Ans. Coming Together, Stronger, Holding Together , Central

Que. 7 Here are three reactions to the language policy
followed in India. Give an argument and an example to
support any of these positions.
Sangeeta: The policy of accommodation has strengthened

national unity.
Arman: Language-based States have divided us by making

everyone conscious of their language.
Harish: This policy has only helped to consolidate the

dominance of English over all other languages.
Que. 7 Here are three reactions to the language policy
followed in India. Give an argument and an example to
support any of these positions.
Ans. The policy of accommodation mentioned by Sangeeta is

a correct reaction to the language policy followed in India.
Due to this policy, India stands in unity with states having

different languages. If India had not followed the policy of
accommodation, several states could have proposed
separation from the country.
Que. 8 The distinguishing feature of a federal government is:
a. National government gives some powers to the

provincial governments.
b. Power is distributed among the legislature, executive

and judiciary.
c. Elected officials exercise supreme power in the

government.
d. Governmental power is divided between different levels

of government.
Ans. d
Que. 9 A few subjects in various Lists of the Indian
Constitution are given here. Group them under the Union,
State and Concurrent Lists as provided in the table below.
A. Defence; B. Police;
C. Agriculture; D. Education;
E. Banking; F. Forests;
G. Communications; H. Trade;
I. Marriages
Union List Defence,Communications,Banking
State List Police,Agriculture,Trade
Concurrent List Education,Forests,Marriages

Que. 10 Examine the following pairs that give the level of
government in India and the powers of the government at that
level to make laws on the subjects mentioned against each.
Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched?
State Government State List
Central Government Union List
Central and State Government Concurrent List
Local Government Residuary Powers
Ans.
Local Government Residuary Powers
Que. 11 Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the
codes given below the lists:
List I List II
1. Union of India (a) Prime Minister
2. State (b) Sarpanch
3. Municipal Corporation (c) Governor
4. Gram Panchayat (d) Mayor

1 2 3 4
a.
D A B C
b.
B C D A
c. A C D B
d. C D A B
Ans. c
Que. 12 Consider the following two statements.
A. In a federation the powers of the federal and provincial

governments are clearly demarcated.
B. India is a federation because the powers of the Union and

State Governments are specified in the Constitution and
they have exclusive jurisdiction on their respective subjects.
C. Sri Lanka is a federation because the country is divided into

provinces.
D. India is no longer a federation because some powers of the

States have been devolved to the local government bodies.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
a. A, B and C
b. A, C and D
c. A and B only
d. B and C only
Ans. c

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CLASS 10th - SOCIAL SCIENCE - FEDERALISM (CHAPTER 2)

Introduction: Democratic Politics - II

We will focus on power sharing, referred as federalism.

We begin by describing federalism in general terms.

Try to understand the theory and practice of federalism.

Towards the end of the chapter, we turn to the local

➔ One of the key changes made in the Constitution of

➔ Belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of

➔ Sri Lanka continues to be a unitary system where the

➔ Tamil leaders want Sri Lanka to become a federal system.

➔ Usually, a federation has two levels of government:

1. The government for the entire country that is usually

2. Governments at the level of provinces or states that look

Both these levels of governments enjoy their power

● Either there is only one level of government or the

● The central government cannot order the state

1. There are two or more levels (or tiers) of government.

2. Different tiers of government govern the same citizens,

3. The jurisdictions of the respective levels or tiers of

4. The fundamental provisions of the constitution cannot

6. Sources of revenue for each level of government are

7. The federal system thus has dual objectives: to

There are two kinds of routes:

1. ‘Coming together’ federations

1. Independent States coming together on their own to

1. A large country decides to divide its power between the

➔ What about a vast country like India, with so many

➔ What are the power sharing arrangements in our country?

The Constitution declared India as a Union of States. Although it

The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of

Union government State government

The Constitution clearly provided a threefold distribution of

Thus, it contains three lists:

➔ Includes: Subjects of national importance such as

➔ Reason: We need a uniform policy on these matters

➔ Who can make laws: The Union Government alone can

➔ Includes: Subjects of State and local importance such as

➔ Reason: If their laws conflict with each other, the law

➔ According to our constitution, the Union Government

‘Holding together’ federations do not give equal power to its

➔ Some States enjoy a special status.

➔ States such as Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh

➔ The protection of land rights of indigenous peoples, their

➔ Indians who are not permanent residents of this State

Similar special provisions exist for some other States of India

➔ Some units of the Indian Union which enjoy very little

➔ Areas which are too small to become an independent

➔ These areas, like Chandigarh, or Lakshadweep or the

➔ These territories do not have the powers of a State.

➔ The Central Government has special powers in running

➔ This sharing of power between the Union Government

How can changes be made?

➔ The Parliament cannot on its own change this

➔ Any change to it has to be first passed by both the

➔ Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least

➔ Plays an important role in overseeing the

➔ In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the

➔ The Union and State governments have the power to

The nature of democratic politics in India,ensured that the