Haryana State Board HBSE 10th Class Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Federalism Notes
Haryana Board 10th Class Social Science Notes Civics Chapter 2 Federalism
→ Summary Of The Lesson
- In modem democracies, power-sharing arrangements can take many forms. One of them is vertical division of power among different levels of government. This vertical division of power is known as ‘Federalism’.
→ What is Federalism?
- Initially, there was the unitary government in Belgium, but in 1993, Belgium shifted from a unitary to a federal form of government.
- Sri Lanka has a unitary government, but the Tamils wished to turn it into a federal government.
- Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
- A federation has two levels of government-One is the government for entire country and others at provincial or state level.
- Under the unitary system, the central government can pass on orders to the provincial or local governments. But in a federal system, the central government cannot order the state government to do something. ‘
Federalism Class 10 Notes HBSE
→ Key Features of Federalism
- (i) Two or more levels or tiers of government.
(ii) Different levels or tiers govern the same citizens.
(iii) Each level has its own jurisdiction.
(iv) In order to change the fundamental provisions of the constitution, the consent of both the levels is required.
(v) The existence and authority of each level or tier of government is constitutionally guaranteed.
(vi) Courts have the power to interpret the constitution and the powers of all different levels of government.
(vii) Financial autonomy of each level is ensured.
(viii) Federal system has dual objectives- to safeguard and promote unity of the country and to accommodate regional diversity. - An ideal federal system has two aspects- mutual trust and agreement to live together.
- There are two kinds of routes through which federations have been formed-‘coming together federation’ and ‘holding together federation’.
- United States of America (USA), Switzerland and Australia are examples of ‘coming together’ federations, and India, Belgium and Spain are examples of ‘holding together’ federations.
Class 10th Federalism Notes HBSE
→ What makes India a Federal Country?
- After partition, the Constitution declared India as a Union of States. The Indian Union is based on the principles of federalism.
Indian federalism has all the key features of Federalism. - The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of government-the Union or the Central Government, and the State Governments.
- Later, a third tier of federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities.
- These three tiers enjoy separate jurisdiction.
- The Constitution provided for a three-fold distribution of legislative powers between the union government and the state governments on the basis of three lists –
(i) Union list includes subjects of national importance. It fulfils the need of uniform policy on these matters throughout the country.
(ii) State list contains subjects of state and local importance.
(iii) Concurrent list includes subjects of common interest to both, the Union Government as well as the State Governments. - Both governments can make laws on these subjects. If there is a conflict, the Union Government can make the law.
- The subjects that do not fall in these three lists, are known as ‘Residuary subjects’. The union government has the power to legislate on these subjects.
- All states in the Indian union do not have identical powers. Some states enjoy a special status. States such as Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram enjoy special powers under certain providsions of the constitution of India (Article 371) due to their peculiar social and historical circumstances.
- Union territories like Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, Delhi do not have the powers of a state. The central government has special powers in administering these areas.
- The Parliament alone cannot change this power-sharing arrangement. Any change to it has to be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at least two-thirds majority.
- Then, it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the total States.
- In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court make a decision.
Federalism 10th Class Notes HBSE
→ How is Federalism Practised?
- The success of federalism in India depends on the nature of democratic politics.
- The creation of Linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in our country.
- Some States were created not on the basis of language, but to recognize differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography. For example,
Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. - A second test for Indian Federation is the language policy.
- Hindi was identified as the official language. 21 other languages were recognised as Scheduled Languages by the constitution.
- Restructuring the Centre-State relations is one more way to strengthen the federalism.
- When the ruling party at the State level was different from that of the Centre, the party that ruled at the centre tried to undermine the powers of the States.
- After 1990, many regional parties came into existence. This was the period of Coalition Government.
- This led to a new method of power sharing.
→ Linguistic Diversity in India
- According to 2011 census of India, more than 1300 distinct languages are mentioned as mother tongue. These languages were grouped under some major languages.
- The major languages include 121 languages. Of these, 22 languages are now included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
→ Decentralisation in India
- Generally, the concept of two-tier government is adopted, but in vast countries like India, the system of three-tier government is adopted.
- When the power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local governments, it is known as ‘Decentralisation’.
- In 1992, The Indian Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy (Local government), more powerful and effective.
- The results of decentralisation are seen as regular elections at local level; reserved seats in the elected bodies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; reservation for women; State Election Commissions.
- The popular name of Rural Local Government is ‘Panchayati Raj’.
- The decision-making body or council in a village is known as ‘Gram Panchayat’.
- The group of a few Gram Panchayats is known as ‘Panchayat Samiti’ or ‘Mandal’ or ‘Block’.
- All the Panchayat Samitis in a district together constitute the Zila (district) Parishad.
- In the same way, local government bodies exist for urban as well as big cities. Municipalities are set up in towns and Municipal Corporations in big cities.
Civics Class 10 Chapter 2 Notes HBSE
→ An Experiment in Brazil
- A city, called Porto Alegre in Brazil, has carried out an extraordinary experiment in combining decentralisation with participative democracy.
- The city has set up a parallel organisation operating alongside the municipal council, enabling local inhabitants to take real decisions for their city.
→ Important Terms
1. Federalism: It is a system of government in which powers are divided between a central authority and various constituent units (States or Provinces) of the nation.
2. Federal Form of Government: Federal form of government implies a government adapted to decentralisation of power or power sharing in its levels, tiers and organs, that have easy access to each other.
3. Unitary System: It is a system of government in which either there is only one level of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the central government.
4. Federal System: A federal system of government is one that divides the powers of government between the national (federal), state and local governments.
5. Jurisdiction: The area over which someone has legal authority.
Class 10 Civics Chapter 2 Notes HBSE
6. Coming together Federation : It is a federation in which several independent States come together on their own to form a bigger unit, so that by pooling sovereignty and retaining identity, they can increase their security and development.
7. Sovereignty: The authority of a state to govern itself.
8. Holding together Federation: It is a federation in which a large country decides to divide its power between the ‘Constituent States’ and the ‘National Government’.
9. Constitution: A collection of rules and basic principles which governs a nation is called the Constitution.
10. Tier System: It is the system that signifies various levels of a government. It may be two levels (two tiers) and three levels (three tiers).
11. Unitary Government: In this form of government, Union or Central government has more powers than the state governments. All the
powers are concentrated in the central government, who gives some power to states.
12. Union List: The list given under the jurisdiction of Union Government. It includes the subjects or matters of national importance, like defence, finance, etc.
13. State List: ‘State List’ is given under the jurisdiction of State Governments. It includes the subjects or matters of state and local importance.
Federalism Chapter Notes HBSE
14. Concurrent List: Concurrent list stands for the subjects of common interest to both, the Union Government, as well as the State Government. For the Concurrent list subjects, both, the Union, as well as the State Governments can make laws.
15. Residuary Subjects: Not listed in any of three lists, i.e. Union list, State list and Concurrent list.
16. Union Territories: Areas under direct rule of Central or Union government.
17. Linguistic States: India is a multilingual country where people speak different languages. After independence, some states were created on the basis of the languages people used to speak. These are known as linguistic states.
18. Language Policy: It is the safeguard to the preservation of languages. Under this policy, besides Hindi, 21 other languages are recognised as scheduled languages by the constitution.
19. Coalition Government: A government formed by the coming together of at least two political parties. The partners in a coalition form a political alliance and adopt a common programme.
20. Autonomy: Power given to a region or territory to govern itself independently.
21. Scheduled Languages: Languages which are listed in the list or schedule of the Constitution are known as the scheduled languages.
22. Non-Scheduled Languages: Apart from scheduled languages, the languages which are not listed in the schedule of the Constitution are known as the non-schedule languages.
Notes Of Federalism HBSE Civics 2
23. Local Government: Besides the Central and State governments, another lower level of government has been set up in India to look after and administer the local problems of the areas, which is known as local government.
24. Decentralisation: When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government, it is called decentralisation.
25. Panchayati Raj: A system of government in which Gram Panchayats are the basic units of administration. It has three levels-Gram (Village), Tehsil (Block), and Zila (District).
26. Panchayat Samiti: It is a local government body at the tehsil or taluka level in India, which is a link between Gram Panchayat and Zila Parishad.
27. Gram Sabha: The bodies for the supervision of Gram Panchayats.
28. Mayor: The Chairperson of the municipal corporation is known as the Mayor.
29. Regionalism: A strong feeling of pride or loyalty in a particular region, with a desire of more power to govern themselves.