Page 698 - 709 DOI: https://doij.org/10.10000/IJLMH.11518
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LAW
MANAGEMENT & HUMANITIES
[ISSN 2581-5369]
Volume 4 | Issue 3
2021
© 2021 International Journal of Law Management & Humanities
Follow this and additional works at: https://www. ijlmh. com/
Under the aegis of VidhiAagaz – Inking Your Brain (https://www. vidhiaagaz. com)
This Article is brought to you for “free” and “open access” by the International Journal of Law
Management & Humanities at VidhiAagaz. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of
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, 698 International Journal of Law Management & Humanities [Vol. 4 Iss 3; 698]
Nature of Federalism in India: An Overview
LEENA CHANDRAN1
ABSTRACT
The basic feature of “Federalism” consists in the division of powers between the Union
and the Constituting units as well as the local governing bodies functioning within the units.
Thus, decentralization power is the basic aspect of federation. The Constitution of India
possesses the basic features of a federal system but at the same time unlike other
federations of the world, the federal system in India is tilted towards the Centre. Along with
this, a considerable amount of power and freedom are accorded to the States their allotted
domain. The word “Federation” is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution of India and the
federation existing in India is not the result of any agreement between the States and the
States have no right to secede from the Union. It is an indestructible Union of destructible
units and the Union Parliament is empowered under the Constitution to create new States
by separating a territory from existing States, merge two or more states and alter the
boundaries or names of the States. But India is a cradle of diverse social, cultural, religious
and geographical conditions and so it is not possible for the Union Government to single
handedly make laws for all the States keeping in mind their peculiar needs. So the States
are also empowered to make laws to suit their social, cultural and geographical needs. In
India the federal structure changes into unitary structure to deal with national crisis and
to curb separatist tendencies. But at the same time various efforts are also being made to
increase cooperation between the Union and the States to make the federal structure
function smoothly. Thus, it can be said that India is a cooperative or collaborative
federation with a strong Centre to uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the nation.
Keywords: Federalism, Constitution, Centralizing tendency, Sovereignty, cooperative
federalism.
I. INTRODUCTION
The word “federation” is a derivation from the Latin term “foedus” meaning treaties or
agreement.2 A Federation may be described as a system of governance which is characterised
by the presence of two sets of government- one is the Federal Government at the Centre and
the other is the regional governments of the various units composing the Federation. In a federal
1
Author is a Research Scholar at S.o.S in Law, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, India.
2
M. Asad Malik , Changing Dimension of Federalism in India: An Apprisal, 2 ILI Law Review, 85, 87(2019)
© 2021. International Journal of Law Management & Humanities [ISSN 2581-5369]
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LAW
MANAGEMENT & HUMANITIES
[ISSN 2581-5369]
Volume 4 | Issue 3
2021
© 2021 International Journal of Law Management & Humanities
Follow this and additional works at: https://www. ijlmh. com/
Under the aegis of VidhiAagaz – Inking Your Brain (https://www. vidhiaagaz. com)
This Article is brought to you for “free” and “open access” by the International Journal of Law
Management & Humanities at VidhiAagaz. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of
Law Management & Humanities after due review.
In case of any suggestion or complaint, please contact .
To submit your Manuscript for Publication at International Journal of Law Management &
Humanities, kindly email your Manuscript at .
, 698 International Journal of Law Management & Humanities [Vol. 4 Iss 3; 698]
Nature of Federalism in India: An Overview
LEENA CHANDRAN1
ABSTRACT
The basic feature of “Federalism” consists in the division of powers between the Union
and the Constituting units as well as the local governing bodies functioning within the units.
Thus, decentralization power is the basic aspect of federation. The Constitution of India
possesses the basic features of a federal system but at the same time unlike other
federations of the world, the federal system in India is tilted towards the Centre. Along with
this, a considerable amount of power and freedom are accorded to the States their allotted
domain. The word “Federation” is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution of India and the
federation existing in India is not the result of any agreement between the States and the
States have no right to secede from the Union. It is an indestructible Union of destructible
units and the Union Parliament is empowered under the Constitution to create new States
by separating a territory from existing States, merge two or more states and alter the
boundaries or names of the States. But India is a cradle of diverse social, cultural, religious
and geographical conditions and so it is not possible for the Union Government to single
handedly make laws for all the States keeping in mind their peculiar needs. So the States
are also empowered to make laws to suit their social, cultural and geographical needs. In
India the federal structure changes into unitary structure to deal with national crisis and
to curb separatist tendencies. But at the same time various efforts are also being made to
increase cooperation between the Union and the States to make the federal structure
function smoothly. Thus, it can be said that India is a cooperative or collaborative
federation with a strong Centre to uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the nation.
Keywords: Federalism, Constitution, Centralizing tendency, Sovereignty, cooperative
federalism.
I. INTRODUCTION
The word “federation” is a derivation from the Latin term “foedus” meaning treaties or
agreement.2 A Federation may be described as a system of governance which is characterised
by the presence of two sets of government- one is the Federal Government at the Centre and
the other is the regional governments of the various units composing the Federation. In a federal
1
Author is a Research Scholar at S.o.S in Law, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, India.
2
M. Asad Malik , Changing Dimension of Federalism in India: An Apprisal, 2 ILI Law Review, 85, 87(2019)
© 2021. International Journal of Law Management & Humanities [ISSN 2581-5369]
