FEDERALISM

 sri lanka still continues to be a unitary form of government.

examples of coming together federations:

U.S.A , switzerland, and australia.

examples of holding together federations:-

india,spain,belgium.

the constitution provides a 3 fold distribution of power between the state and the central government.

subjects of union list:-

national defence,currency,foreign affairs,banking and communication.

subjects of state list:

police,trade,commerce,agriculture, irrigation,etc.

subjects of concurrent list:-

education, forest, trade unions,marriage,adoption,succession,etc.

the union government has the power to make laws of residuary subjects.

in case of conflicts in law making on subjects included in the concurrent list, the law made by the central government will prevail.

Jammu and Kashmir has its own special constitution.

indians who do not are not permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir cannot buy land or house there.

the union territories do not have powers like those of a state. Central government have special powers in running these areas.

any change in the power sharing model has to be approved by both the houses with atleast 2/3 majority and then it has to be ratified by atleast the legislatures of half the states.

both state government and national government has the power to raise resources by levying taxes.

states like nagaland,jharkhand and uttarakhand were not created on the basis of language but on the basis of cultural.ethnic and geographical differences.

there are a total of 22 scheduled languages.

only 40% indians have hindi as their mother tongue.

promotion of hindi continues to be the official policy of the government of india.

federal power sharing has become more effective after the emergence of coalition parties.

DECENTRALIZATION:- when power is taken from the state and national government,it is called decentralization.

the constitution was amended in 1992 to make the local government more powerful.

the state government are required to share some power with the local governent along with revenue

the panchayat works under the supervision of the gram sabha 

pachayat ---> panchayat samiti/block/mandal ---> zilla parishad

most members of the zilla parishad are elected. MPs and MLAs and some other district officials are also its members.

the chairperson of a municipal corporation is called the mayor.

even though elections for panchayats are held regularly,gram sabha elections are not held regularly.

Q: STATE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FEDERAL AND UNITARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT?

in a federal government ,the government shares its powers with the different constituent units of the country.in india,power is divided between government at the centre and various state governments.

in a unitary form of government , all the power is excersized only by one government.in sri lanka, the central government has all the powers.

the main objective of a federal system is to promote and safeguard the unity of the country and to accomodate regional diversity.

3 steps taken by india towards making it a federation:-

1)reorganization of states on linguistic basic

2)maintaining healthy centre-state relations

3)decentralization or any other prevalent point

provisions of the 1992 government:-

1)now, it is mandatory to hold elections for  the local government.

2)seats are reserved in the elected bodies and executive heads for SCs, STs and OBCs.

3)1/3rd of all positions are reserved for women.

4)an independent institution called state election commission has been set up ton conduct elections for the panchayats and municipalities.

5)the state governments are required to share some power and revenue with the local government bodies.

although the constitution of india does not mention the word federalism ,the indian union is based on the principles of federalism.

india fulfills all the requirements of a federal country.

the panchayat is the decision making body for the entire village.