Question

State any three features of federalism in India.

Answer 1

Hint: Federalism can be defined as a government that is made up of two governments in which one is under Central and the other is in various states or territories which protects the public from dispersing power, increases effectiveness and participation of citizens and removes inequalities.

Complete answer:
The term ‘federalism’ is derived from the Latin word ‘foedus’ meaning ‘treat’ or ‘pact’ . Federalism was firstly used in the constitution of the United States in the year 1789. Federalism is also defined as the distribution of the powers between two governments which are at the same level.

Some of the main features of the federalism are as follows-
Federalism is an important aspect as the government at the state level is more close to the citizens in their respective state and can quickly reach out to the citizens' needs.
Federalism helps in doing any public activity more efficiently because it is not always possible for the Central government to act solely and tackle the public needs of the entire nation from one point.
Due to federalism the central government comes to know the problems from the root such as the panchayats can give the central government more realistic view of the persisting situations.
Also, allowing the state government to make their one policies by giving power and to tackle in their own way reduces the pressure on the central government.

Some of the features of the federalism in India are as follows-
In India, the Federal system is tilted towards the unitary form of structure. Sometimes it is also referred to as the quasi federal government which involves the features of both federal and unitary structure.
There is division of power which is included in the three lists of the constitution - the first is Union list, second is State list and the third is Concurrent list with subjects given in each list which is in their respective control.
The basic structure of the constitution cannot be destroyed as laid out by the Judiciary.
There is an independent judiciary in India, i.e. the district and the lower courts are at the bottom level with the High Court at the state level and the Supreme Court at the highest level. All the courts are subordinate of the Supreme Court.

Note: There are mainly two types of federalism – Dual Federalism which states that the Union and the State are equal. The other is Cooperative Federalism which explains that the federal government is superior to the state and can stretch its powers as much as possible.