Federalism · Class 10 Political Science: 100 flashcards
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1. Define federalism.
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A way of governing in which power is shared out between the centre and the units that make up the country, instead of being held in one place.
2. What are the two levels of government a federation usually has, and what is each responsible for?
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One government covering the whole country, normally handling a handful of matters of common national concern; and governments at province or state level, which carry most of the everyday administration where they are.
3. In a federation, how do the two levels hold their power?
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Both levels enjoy their power independent of the other.
4. What is a unitary system?
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One where there is a single level of government, or else the lower units sit under the centre and can be issued orders by it.
5. What is the decisive difference between a federal and a unitary system?
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A unitary centre can issue orders to its sub-units and expect them obeyed. A federal centre cannot instruct a state at all, because the state holds powers in its own right and owes the centre no account for them.
6. To whom are the two levels of government answerable in a federation?
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Both are separately answerable to the people, not to each other.
7. Did Belgium create regional governments in 1993?
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No. Regional governments existed even earlier, with their own roles and powers. What changed in 1993 was that they were given powers written into the constitution, no longer held at the centre's pleasure.
8. Before 1993, what was the weakness of the powers held by Belgium's regional governments?
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All those powers were given to them by the Central Government and could be withdrawn by it.
9. What change of form did Belgium undergo in 1993?
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It shifted from a unitary to a federal form of government.
10. What is Sri Lanka's system of government, and what do Tamil leaders want?
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Sri Lanka continues, for all practical purposes, to be a unitary set-up in which every power rests with the national government. Tamil leaders press for Sri Lanka to turn federal.
11. What is a coming-together federation, and which countries are given as examples?
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One formed when independent states come of their own accord into a larger unit, pooling sovereignty while keeping their identity so as to increase their security. Examples are the USA, Switzerland and Australia.
12. In a coming-together federation, how do the constituent states stand relative to the federal government?
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All the constituent states usually have equal power and are strong relative to the federal government.
13. What is a holding-together federation, and which countries are given as examples?
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One formed when a big country chooses to split power between its constituent states and the national government. Examples are India, Spain and Belgium.
14. In a holding-together federation, how does power tend to be distributed?
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The Central Government tends to be more powerful relative to the states. Very often different constituent units have unequal powers, and some units are granted special powers.
15. What determines the exact balance of power between the central and state governments in a federation?
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It varies from one federation to another and turns mainly on the historical circumstances in which that federation came together.
16. State the dual objectives of a federal system.
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To safeguard and promote the unity of the country, while at the same time accommodating regional diversity.
17. Federalism needs two things to be present before it can work. Which two?
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The levels have to settle on rules for sharing power, and each has to believe the others will keep to them. Both are needed: trust between the units, and a wish to stay together.
18. Define jurisdiction.
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How far a body’s legal authority runs. It can be bounded geographically, or bounded by the list of subjects it may rule on.
19. How many of the world's countries have federal political systems, and what share of the world's people do they hold?
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Only 25 of the world's 193 countries, yet their citizens make up 40 per cent of the world's population.
20. Why might Belgium's choice of federalism seem surprising?
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Because most of the large countries of the world are federations, whereas Belgium is a small country and adopted federalism nonetheless.
21. How many levels of government does the first feature of federalism require?
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Two or more levels, also called tiers.
22. Do different tiers of government govern different citizens?
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No. Every tier governs the same people; what separates them is the jurisdiction each holds over particular matters.
23. In which three kinds of matters does each tier have its own jurisdiction?
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Legislation, taxation and administration.
24. Where are the jurisdictions of the respective tiers of government specified?
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In the constitution, so that the existence and authority of each tier is constitutionally guaranteed.
25. What two things does constitutional specification guarantee for each tier?
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Its existence and its authority — so a tier can neither be abolished nor hollowed out.
26. Can one level of government change the fundamental provisions of the constitution on its own?
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No. One level may not rewrite the basic provisions by itself; both levels have to agree.
27. Why are features 3 and 4 both needed rather than just one of them?
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Feature 3 puts the jurisdictions into the constitution, and feature 4 stops one level from amending that constitution alone. Without the second, the stronger level could simply rewrite the guarantee the weaker relies on.
28. What power do courts have in a federation?
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The authority to say what the constitution means, and what powers each level of government holds.
29. What does the highest court do when levels of government clash?
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It umpires: when levels of government disagree about the exercise of their powers, it decides.
30. Why can a dispute between two levels of government not be settled by either of them?
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Because whichever level decided would win every time, so a body outside both is needed. That is why the highest court acts as umpire.
31. What does the sixth feature of federalism require about revenue?
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That each level is told precisely where it may raise money, so that it stands financially on its own.
32. Why is financial autonomy necessary even when a tier's powers are constitutionally guaranteed?
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Because a tier that must ask another level for money every time it wants to act cannot exercise its powers in practice. Authority without revenue is authority on paper.
33. What is distinctive about the seventh feature compared with the first six?
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The first six describe machinery, while the seventh states the purpose that machinery serves — the dual objectives of safeguarding unity and accommodating regional diversity.
34. State the seven features of federalism in short form.
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Two or more tiers; same citizens with each tier's own jurisdiction; jurisdictions specified in the constitution; no unilateral change by one level; courts interpret and the highest court umpires; revenue sources specified for financial autonomy; and the dual objective of unity with regional diversity.
35. Which feature of federalism did Belgium's regions acquire in 1993?
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The third — their jurisdictions became specified in the constitution, so their existence and authority were constitutionally guaranteed rather than dependent on the centre.
36. Does the presence of two or more tiers of government by itself make a country federal?
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No. A unitary state can have tiers too. The first feature is only the starting point; the remaining features are what make those tiers real.
37. What is meant by saying the existence of each tier is constitutionally guaranteed?
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That a tier cannot be abolished, because its place in the structure is fixed by the constitution rather than granted by another level of government.
38. Whose consent is required to change the fundamental provisions of a federal constitution?
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The consent of both the levels of government.
39. Which feature would be missing in a country whose lower tiers depend on annual grants decided by the centre?
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The sixth — clearly specified sources of revenue ensuring financial autonomy.
40. Why does the textbook call the highest court an 'umpire' rather than a judge of the levels?
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Because an umpire stands outside both sides rather than above them, which is exactly what a dispute between two levels of government requires.
41. What did the Indian Constitution declare the country to be?
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A Union of States. It did not use the word federation, although the Indian Union is based on the principles of federalism.
42. What system of government did the Constitution originally provide for, and what was added later?
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A two-tier system of the Union Government and the State governments. Panchayats and Municipalities were added later as a third federal tier.
43. Name the three lists into which legislative powers are distributed.
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The Union List, the State List and the Concurrent List.
44. Give five subjects on the Union List.
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Defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency.
45. Why are Union List subjects assigned to the Union Government?
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Because these are matters on which one policy must apply everywhere, so only the Union Government may legislate on them.
46. Give five subjects on the State List.
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Police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation.
47. Who alone can make laws on subjects in the State List?
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The State Governments.
48. Give the subjects listed as examples on the Concurrent List.
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Education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession.
49. What happens if a Union law and a State law on a Concurrent List subject conflict?
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The law made by the Union Government will prevail.
50. What are residuary subjects, and who may legislate on them?
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Subjects that fall in none of the three lists, including subjects such as computer software that arose only after the constitution was written. The Union Government has the power to legislate on them.
51. Which example does the textbook give of a subject that arose after the Constitution was written?
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Computer software.
52. Do all States in the Indian Union have identical powers?
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No. All States do not have identical powers, and some States enjoy a special status.
53. Which four States are named as enjoying special powers, and under which Article?
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Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, under Article 371.
54. Why do certain States enjoy special powers, and in relation to what?
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Because of their unusual social and historical background. The special powers relate especially to the safeguarding of indigenous peoples' rights over land, their culture, and preferential employment in government services.
55. What kind of property restriction does the chapter link to special status?
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Indians who are not permanent residents of some of these States are restricted from buying land or a house there.
56. What are Union Territories, and name three.
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Areas too small to stand as a State of its own and impossible to merge into any existing State. Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and the capital city of Delhi.
57. What powers do Union Territories have?
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None of a State’s powers belong to them, and the Centre holds special powers over how they are administered.
58. State the two-stage procedure for changing the sharing of power between the Union and the States.
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The change must first be passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at least a two-thirds majority, and then approved by the legislatures of half the States or more.
59. Why can Parliament not change the Centre-State power-sharing arrangement on its own?
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Because this sharing of power is basic to the structure of the Constitution, so any change requires ratification by the legislatures of at least half of the total States in addition to a two-thirds majority in both Houses.
60. Who decides a dispute about the division of powers in India?
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The High Courts and the Supreme Court.
61. Are constitutional provisions sufficient for the success of federalism?
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No. They are necessary but not sufficient. The real success of federalism in India is attributed to the nature of democratic politics in the country.
62. What did the nature of democratic politics in India ensure?
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That a federal outlook, respect for difference and a wish to stay together came to be held in common across the country.
63. What was the first and major test for democratic politics in India?
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The creation of linguistic States.
64. Why were the boundaries of several old States redrawn after Independence?
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So that a language community and a State would cover the same ground.
65. Name three States created not on the basis of language, and say on what basis they were created.
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Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, created to recognise differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography.
66. What did some national leaders fear about the demand for linguistic States?
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That the country would come apart. For a while the Central Government held out against States drawn on language.
67. What has experience shown about the formation of linguistic States?
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That it has actually made the country more united, and has also made administration easier.
68. Which language did the Constitution give the status of national language?
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None at all. No language was made the national language; Hindi was named the official one, which is a smaller claim.
69. What proportion of Indians have Hindi as their mother tongue, according to the 2011 Census table in the chapter?
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About 44 per cent (43.63 per cent). The language policy paragraph still gives an older figure of about 40 per cent.
70. How many languages besides Hindi are which the Constitution lists as Scheduled Languages?
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Twenty-one others, making twenty-two in total.
71. What option do candidates have in examinations for Central Government positions?
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They may opt to take the examination in any of the Scheduled Languages.
72. In which language does much of a State's government work take place?
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In the official language of the concerned State, since States too have their own official languages.
73. When was the use of English for official purposes to stop, according to the Constitution?
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In 1965.
74. Why did the use of English not stop as planned?
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Because many non-Hindi speaking States demanded that it continue, and in Tamil Nadu the movement took a violent form. The Central Government agreed to continue English along with Hindi for official purposes.
75. What criticism is made of the decision to continue English?
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Plenty of critics argue the settlement suited the English-speaking elite.
76. What is the difference between promoting Hindi and imposing it?
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The Government of India still promotes Hindi as declared policy — but promoting is not imposing, and States that speak another language cannot have it pressed on them.
77. What did the flexibility of Indian political leaders on language help the country avoid?
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The kind of situation that Sri Lanka finds itself in.
78. Why did State Governments not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units for a long time?
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Because for many years one party held office at the Centre and in most of the States at the same time.
79. What did the Central Government often do to State Governments controlled by rival parties?
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It would often misuse the Constitution to dismiss them, which undermined the spirit of federalism.
80. Define a coalition government.
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One formed when at least two parties combine. They generally enter an alliance and settle on a common programme first.
81. Why can a country like India not be run through two tiers of government alone?
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Because India's States rival independent European countries in size and many are internally very diverse, so power needs to be shared within States as well.
82. Which comparisons does the chapter use to show how large Indian States are?
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By population Uttar Pradesh outstrips Russia, and Maharashtra is a match for Germany.
83. Define decentralisation.
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The handing of power down from the Centre and the States to the local level.
84. Give three reasons why problems are handled best close to home.
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People have a closer knowledge of their own locality's troubles; they have a surer sense of where money should go and how to run things more efficiently; and at the local level people can directly participate in decision making.
85. Which principle of democracy is local government the best way to realise?
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Local self-government.
86. Why was there very little effective decentralisation before 1992?
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Because panchayats and municipalities were directly under the control of state governments, elections to them were not held regularly, and they had no powers or resources of their own.
87. In which year was the major step towards decentralisation taken?
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1992 — the year the Constitution was amended to give the third tier genuine power and effect.
88. What did the 1992 amendment make constitutionally mandatory?
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Holding regular elections to local government bodies.
89. For whom are seats reserved in local bodies under the 1992 amendment?
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For the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, in the elected bodies and in the posts heading those bodies.
90. What proportion of positions in local bodies is reserved for women?
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No fewer than a third of the seats.
91. Running panchayat and municipal elections was given to which body in each State?
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An independent institution called the State Election Commission.
92. What are State governments required to share with local bodies, and what is the catch?
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Some powers and some revenue must be passed down, though how much and in what form is different in every State.
93. What is a gram panchayat made up of?
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A council made up of ward members — the panch — together with a president, the sarpanch, all of them elected directly by every adult in that ward or village.
94. What is the gram sabha, and who belongs to it?
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The body that supervises the gram panchayat. All the voters in the village are its members.
95. How often must the gram sabha meet, and for what purposes?
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Two or three times a year at minimum — to pass the gram panchayat’s yearly budget and to look over how it has performed.
96. What is formed when a few gram panchayats are grouped together, and who elects its members?
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A panchayat samiti, also called a block or mandal. Its members are elected by all the panchayat members in that area.
97. What is the zilla parishad, and who else sits on it besides elected members?
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A district's panchayat samitis or mandals together make up the zilla parishad. Besides its elected members, The district's Lok Sabha members and MLAs, along with certain other officers of district level bodies are also its members.
98. Who is the political head of a zilla parishad?
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The zilla parishad chairperson.
99. What is the political head of a municipality called, and of a municipal corporation?
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The municipal chairperson heads a municipality; in a municipal corporation the officer is called the mayor.
100. What difficulties remain with local government in India?
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Gram sabhas are not held regularly even though elections come round on time and draw real enthusiasm; few State governments have handed down powers that matter to local governments; and the money has not followed either. We are still a long way from realising the ideal of self-government.
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