Dc Readers
Supplementary Study material for classroom program
Dc Readers
83
Classes by Dipin Damodaran and Chandan Mittal
24. FEDRALISM - ASYMMETRICAL, COMPETITIVE & COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM 1. Federal vs Unitary govt A unitary government is one in which all powers are vested in the national government and the regional governments, if at all exist, derive their authority from the national government. A federal government, on the other hand, is one in which powers are divided between the national government and the regional governments by the Constitution itself and both operate in the their respective jurisdictions independently 2. Federalism in Indian Constitution The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of government. It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz., two government, division of powers, written Constitution, supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary and bicameralism. However, the Indian Constitution also contains a large number of unitary or non-federal features, viz., a strong Centre, single Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of Constitution, integrated judiciary, appointment of state governor by the Centre, all-India services, emergency provisions, and so on. Moreover, the term ‘Federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1, on the other hand , describes India as a ‘Union of States’. Hence, the Indian Constitution has been variously described as ‘federal in form but unitary in spirit’, ‘quasi-federal’ by K C Wheare, ‘bargaining federalism’ by Morris Jones, ‘co-operative federalism’ by Granville Austin, ‘federation with a centralising tendency’ by Ivor Jennings 3. Asymmetrical federalism Meaning: In simple terms, asymmetrical federalism means a flexible type of union that grants special status to some federative units India is characterised by political asymmetry, constitutional asymmetry and sub-state asymmetries 1) Political asymmetry exists due to geographical and demographic sizes of the federative units. For eg. The states are represented in the Rajya Sabha not on the footing of formal equality as in the United States of America but on the basis of their population 2) Constitutional asymmetry refers to the differences in status or legislative and executive powers assigned by the constitution to the different regional units For eg. The states of Jammu &Kashmir, Nagaland, and Mizoram enjoy certain special position and powers in the Constitution not enjoyed by others 3) Sub-state asymmetries involves a special kind of federating units that are called the union territories, which do not enjoy equal powers 4) The half - states : Delhi and Puducherry (a) There are two different types of UTS, namely, Puducherry (14th Amendment Act 1962) and Delhi (69th Amendment Act 1991). (b) A common feature of these two territories is that they have been granted unicameral legislatures whose members are directly elected by the people. (c) The Puducherry legislature is partly elected and partly nominated. (d) There is also a council of ministers responsible to the legislature in both the territories. (e) The head of the state in both Delhi and Pondicherry is a lieutenant governor appointed by the union to perform formal executive functions of the government. (f) Both the territories also have governments headed by chief ministers accountable to their respective legislatures. (g) However, the chief minister of Delhi is appointed by the president of India on the recommendation of the lieutenant governor. This is presumably in view of the fact that Delhi is in the National Capital Territory. (h) The legislature of Delhi enjoys only concurrent jurisdiction as in the case of conflict in regard to laws made by it and those made by Parliament, the latter prevails. (i) Pondicherry is represented by one seat each in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Delhi has seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha seats. (j) Despite being called a state, Delhi is really a semi-state as some vital subjects like land, police and civil services are vested in the union government. The Government of Delhi enjoys only concurrent jurisdiction in other subjects. Hence, there has been a long-standing demand of full statehood for Delhi. (k) In the case of Pondicherry, land, police and civil services are under the jurisdiction of the state government
#8860211234. #100, opposite subway, Old Rajendra Nagar Market, New Delhi
Supplementary Study material for classroom program
Dc Readers
84
Classes by Dipin Damodaran and Chandan Mittal
5. Other Specific asymmetries: The governors of Maharashtra and Gujarat have a “special responsibility” for the establishment of separate development boards for certain backward regions of these states with equitable allocation of development funds and provision of facilities for technical education, vocation training and employment opportunities. The president of India is under the constitutional obligation to ensure the setting up of a committee of the legislative assembly in the states of Assam and Manipur consisting of members elected from tribal/hill areas to look after the welfare of those communities. The governor of Sikkim is under certain “special responsibility for peace and for an equitable arrangement for ensuring the social and economic advancement of different sections of population” of the state. The governor of Arunachal Pradesh has “special responsibility with respect to law and order” and to act in his “individual judgment” after consulting the council of ministers 6.Multi-level federalism in India Other than the Centre and the states, a third tier comprising of Panchayat and municipalities is also functional India. Through the 73rd and 74th amendment the third tier has got constitutional recognition but the debate on distribution of responsibility and resources is still on. Their position in the federal structure is still ambiguous. They still are treated as merely an implementing agency of the Union or the State; getting funds and functionaries is still a herculean task i.e. fiscal ambiguities overshadow any rational move towards practising decentralization; politico-electoral meddling is rampant; the elite bureaucracy still displays the age old patronizing attitude towards any form of interaction with the functionaries of this ‘third tier’; and the locally dominant social elite bias 7. Issues 1) Revenue sharing 2) Regional inequality 3) Possibilities of opposing parties coming into power in few states 4) The demand for more fiscal decentralisation 5) The centralised planning structure 6) Water disputes 8. Institutional Mechanisms 1) Interstate council 2) Finance Commission 3) NDC 4) Zonal councils 5) Inter- state water tribunal 6) Chief ministers conference etc 7) NITI Aayog 9. The paradigm shift Until the late 1980’s, the parliamentary centralism was ushered in by the one-party dominant system, The 1989 parliamentary elections were a watershed in bringing about greater federalization of the political system. One of the important reasons for this development was the shift from one-party dominant party system to a multiparty system and the prominent rise of regional political parties As a result of this development, the coalition/minority governments at the Centre became a norm for more than two decades (1989 – 2014). 10. What is competitive federalism? competitive federalism, where States would compete with each other to attract investments and also hopefully provide better public goods and services. What has become increasingly evident is that the States are unevenly equipped to engage in fair competition, since regional disparities in the provision of basic needs and social sector services are overwhelming. Moreover, there are vast differences in governance capabilities, and while special category States, a la the Planning Commission, may have withered away with it, the need for asymmetric federalism remains. Enhanced devolutions across the board do not address this problem, which requires a new asymmetric federalism framework that remains to be defined. #8860211234. #100, opposite subway, Old Rajendra Nagar Market, New Delhi
Supplementary Study material for classroom program
Dc Readers
85
Classes by Dipin Damodaran and Chandan Mittal
11. What is cooperative federalism? (1) In a vast country like ours, the spirit of co-operative federalism should guide the relations between the Centre and the States on the one hand, among different States and between the States and the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) on the other. (2) The essence of co-operative federalism is that the Centre and the State Governments should be guided by the broader national concerns of using the available resources for the benefit of the people. (3) Co-operative federalism encourages the Government at different levels to take advantage of a large national market, diverse and rich natural resources and the potential of human capabilities in all parts of the country and from all sections of the society for building a prosperous nation. (4) Co-operative federalism makes it possible to raise all the available resources by the Government at different levels in a coordinated way and channel them for use for the common good of the people. (5) This requires a harmonious relationship and co-operative spirit between the Centre and the States and among the States themselves. (6) While a healthy competition among the States for evolving efficient and socially desirable policies and programmes is welcome, any competition which nullifies each other's advantages in development and erodes the resource base of the States should be avoided. (7) Co-operative federalism is intended to ensure a minimum bundle of basic services and a nationally acceptable level of living for all the people of the country. 12. Recent developments towards cooperative federalism 1) Dismantling Planning Commission 2) Recommendation of 14Fc 3) GST ( to be discussed as separate topics) 13. Challenges (1) For a long time federalists have been demanding that the Centre cut down or totally wind up some of the ministries that deal with subjects in the State List. With fewer schemes in these areas, cooperative federalism demands that the responsibility for managing them also be shifted where it rightfully belongs, that is, the State and local levels (2) It is significant that the legitimacy of the body( NITI Aayog) that have been created to push forward the new federalism idea is again rooted in a Union Cabinet Resolution rather than being located in the Constitution. (3) The existing and largely underutilised Interstate Council, created under Article 263 and mandated to deal with coordination between States, has been totally ignored. This raises the question of what the new vision of cooperative federalism entails, beyond coordination (4) Sharing of powers and responsibilities between the three levels of government is a key element of the concept, which involves participative policy making. This is particularly important in areas of concurrent responsibility, where the Centre has had a tendency to ride roughshod over the States by occupying the common legislative space. (5) A reform of the seventh schedule lists in the direction of greater empowerment of States would be consistent with the logic of increased financial transfers and cooperative federalism. Locating the right level for making and implementing policy is a central feature of the cooperative responsibility matrix (6) The States are unevenly equipped to engage in fair competition, since regional disparities in the provision of basic needs and social sector services are overwhelming. (7) The Centre drastically cut down key centrally sponsored schemes in the social sector. Whether most of the States are sufficiently endowed with governance capabilities to absorb and effectively spend the additional resource that have come their way is a moot point. Whether they will be able to keep essential schemes running remains also to be seen. (8) Cooperative federalism with opposition-ruled States becomes an altogether more difficult proposition, given the absence of a viable working relationship. 14. Conclusion The federal principle requires a genuine will to share power. The ideas of partnership and participation are crucial to its success, and concentration of power is the very antithesis of the federal spirit.
#8860211234. #100, opposite subway, Old Rajendra Nagar Market, New Delhi
Dc Readers
83
Classes by Dipin Damodaran and Chandan Mittal
24. FEDRALISM - ASYMMETRICAL, COMPETITIVE & COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM 1. Federal vs Unitary govt A unitary government is one in which all powers are vested in the national government and the regional governments, if at all exist, derive their authority from the national government. A federal government, on the other hand, is one in which powers are divided between the national government and the regional governments by the Constitution itself and both operate in the their respective jurisdictions independently 2. Federalism in Indian Constitution The Constitution of India establishes a federal system of government. It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz., two government, division of powers, written Constitution, supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary and bicameralism. However, the Indian Constitution also contains a large number of unitary or non-federal features, viz., a strong Centre, single Constitution, single citizenship, flexibility of Constitution, integrated judiciary, appointment of state governor by the Centre, all-India services, emergency provisions, and so on. Moreover, the term ‘Federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1, on the other hand , describes India as a ‘Union of States’. Hence, the Indian Constitution has been variously described as ‘federal in form but unitary in spirit’, ‘quasi-federal’ by K C Wheare, ‘bargaining federalism’ by Morris Jones, ‘co-operative federalism’ by Granville Austin, ‘federation with a centralising tendency’ by Ivor Jennings 3. Asymmetrical federalism Meaning: In simple terms, asymmetrical federalism means a flexible type of union that grants special status to some federative units India is characterised by political asymmetry, constitutional asymmetry and sub-state asymmetries 1) Political asymmetry exists due to geographical and demographic sizes of the federative units. For eg. The states are represented in the Rajya Sabha not on the footing of formal equality as in the United States of America but on the basis of their population 2) Constitutional asymmetry refers to the differences in status or legislative and executive powers assigned by the constitution to the different regional units For eg. The states of Jammu &Kashmir, Nagaland, and Mizoram enjoy certain special position and powers in the Constitution not enjoyed by others 3) Sub-state asymmetries involves a special kind of federating units that are called the union territories, which do not enjoy equal powers 4) The half - states : Delhi and Puducherry (a) There are two different types of UTS, namely, Puducherry (14th Amendment Act 1962) and Delhi (69th Amendment Act 1991). (b) A common feature of these two territories is that they have been granted unicameral legislatures whose members are directly elected by the people. (c) The Puducherry legislature is partly elected and partly nominated. (d) There is also a council of ministers responsible to the legislature in both the territories. (e) The head of the state in both Delhi and Pondicherry is a lieutenant governor appointed by the union to perform formal executive functions of the government. (f) Both the territories also have governments headed by chief ministers accountable to their respective legislatures. (g) However, the chief minister of Delhi is appointed by the president of India on the recommendation of the lieutenant governor. This is presumably in view of the fact that Delhi is in the National Capital Territory. (h) The legislature of Delhi enjoys only concurrent jurisdiction as in the case of conflict in regard to laws made by it and those made by Parliament, the latter prevails. (i) Pondicherry is represented by one seat each in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Delhi has seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha seats. (j) Despite being called a state, Delhi is really a semi-state as some vital subjects like land, police and civil services are vested in the union government. The Government of Delhi enjoys only concurrent jurisdiction in other subjects. Hence, there has been a long-standing demand of full statehood for Delhi. (k) In the case of Pondicherry, land, police and civil services are under the jurisdiction of the state government
#8860211234. #100, opposite subway, Old Rajendra Nagar Market, New Delhi
Supplementary Study material for classroom program
Dc Readers
84
Classes by Dipin Damodaran and Chandan Mittal
5. Other Specific asymmetries: The governors of Maharashtra and Gujarat have a “special responsibility” for the establishment of separate development boards for certain backward regions of these states with equitable allocation of development funds and provision of facilities for technical education, vocation training and employment opportunities. The president of India is under the constitutional obligation to ensure the setting up of a committee of the legislative assembly in the states of Assam and Manipur consisting of members elected from tribal/hill areas to look after the welfare of those communities. The governor of Sikkim is under certain “special responsibility for peace and for an equitable arrangement for ensuring the social and economic advancement of different sections of population” of the state. The governor of Arunachal Pradesh has “special responsibility with respect to law and order” and to act in his “individual judgment” after consulting the council of ministers 6.Multi-level federalism in India Other than the Centre and the states, a third tier comprising of Panchayat and municipalities is also functional India. Through the 73rd and 74th amendment the third tier has got constitutional recognition but the debate on distribution of responsibility and resources is still on. Their position in the federal structure is still ambiguous. They still are treated as merely an implementing agency of the Union or the State; getting funds and functionaries is still a herculean task i.e. fiscal ambiguities overshadow any rational move towards practising decentralization; politico-electoral meddling is rampant; the elite bureaucracy still displays the age old patronizing attitude towards any form of interaction with the functionaries of this ‘third tier’; and the locally dominant social elite bias 7. Issues 1) Revenue sharing 2) Regional inequality 3) Possibilities of opposing parties coming into power in few states 4) The demand for more fiscal decentralisation 5) The centralised planning structure 6) Water disputes 8. Institutional Mechanisms 1) Interstate council 2) Finance Commission 3) NDC 4) Zonal councils 5) Inter- state water tribunal 6) Chief ministers conference etc 7) NITI Aayog 9. The paradigm shift Until the late 1980’s, the parliamentary centralism was ushered in by the one-party dominant system, The 1989 parliamentary elections were a watershed in bringing about greater federalization of the political system. One of the important reasons for this development was the shift from one-party dominant party system to a multiparty system and the prominent rise of regional political parties As a result of this development, the coalition/minority governments at the Centre became a norm for more than two decades (1989 – 2014). 10. What is competitive federalism? competitive federalism, where States would compete with each other to attract investments and also hopefully provide better public goods and services. What has become increasingly evident is that the States are unevenly equipped to engage in fair competition, since regional disparities in the provision of basic needs and social sector services are overwhelming. Moreover, there are vast differences in governance capabilities, and while special category States, a la the Planning Commission, may have withered away with it, the need for asymmetric federalism remains. Enhanced devolutions across the board do not address this problem, which requires a new asymmetric federalism framework that remains to be defined. #8860211234. #100, opposite subway, Old Rajendra Nagar Market, New Delhi
Supplementary Study material for classroom program
Dc Readers
85
Classes by Dipin Damodaran and Chandan Mittal
11. What is cooperative federalism? (1) In a vast country like ours, the spirit of co-operative federalism should guide the relations between the Centre and the States on the one hand, among different States and between the States and the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) on the other. (2) The essence of co-operative federalism is that the Centre and the State Governments should be guided by the broader national concerns of using the available resources for the benefit of the people. (3) Co-operative federalism encourages the Government at different levels to take advantage of a large national market, diverse and rich natural resources and the potential of human capabilities in all parts of the country and from all sections of the society for building a prosperous nation. (4) Co-operative federalism makes it possible to raise all the available resources by the Government at different levels in a coordinated way and channel them for use for the common good of the people. (5) This requires a harmonious relationship and co-operative spirit between the Centre and the States and among the States themselves. (6) While a healthy competition among the States for evolving efficient and socially desirable policies and programmes is welcome, any competition which nullifies each other's advantages in development and erodes the resource base of the States should be avoided. (7) Co-operative federalism is intended to ensure a minimum bundle of basic services and a nationally acceptable level of living for all the people of the country. 12. Recent developments towards cooperative federalism 1) Dismantling Planning Commission 2) Recommendation of 14Fc 3) GST ( to be discussed as separate topics) 13. Challenges (1) For a long time federalists have been demanding that the Centre cut down or totally wind up some of the ministries that deal with subjects in the State List. With fewer schemes in these areas, cooperative federalism demands that the responsibility for managing them also be shifted where it rightfully belongs, that is, the State and local levels (2) It is significant that the legitimacy of the body( NITI Aayog) that have been created to push forward the new federalism idea is again rooted in a Union Cabinet Resolution rather than being located in the Constitution. (3) The existing and largely underutilised Interstate Council, created under Article 263 and mandated to deal with coordination between States, has been totally ignored. This raises the question of what the new vision of cooperative federalism entails, beyond coordination (4) Sharing of powers and responsibilities between the three levels of government is a key element of the concept, which involves participative policy making. This is particularly important in areas of concurrent responsibility, where the Centre has had a tendency to ride roughshod over the States by occupying the common legislative space. (5) A reform of the seventh schedule lists in the direction of greater empowerment of States would be consistent with the logic of increased financial transfers and cooperative federalism. Locating the right level for making and implementing policy is a central feature of the cooperative responsibility matrix (6) The States are unevenly equipped to engage in fair competition, since regional disparities in the provision of basic needs and social sector services are overwhelming. (7) The Centre drastically cut down key centrally sponsored schemes in the social sector. Whether most of the States are sufficiently endowed with governance capabilities to absorb and effectively spend the additional resource that have come their way is a moot point. Whether they will be able to keep essential schemes running remains also to be seen. (8) Cooperative federalism with opposition-ruled States becomes an altogether more difficult proposition, given the absence of a viable working relationship. 14. Conclusion The federal principle requires a genuine will to share power. The ideas of partnership and participation are crucial to its success, and concentration of power is the very antithesis of the federal spirit.
#8860211234. #100, opposite subway, Old Rajendra Nagar Market, New Delhi
