Why India is a federation?
Q. Which of the following have unitary form of government?
1) Argentina
2) Brazil
3) Sweden
4) Belgium- Published on 23 Feb 17a. 1, 2
b. 3, 4
c. 1, 3, 4
d. All of the above
ANSWER: 3, 4
- A unitary government is one in which all the powers are vested in the national government and if the regional governments exist, they derive their authority from the national government.
- A federal government is one in which powers are divided between the national government and the regional governments by the Constitution itself and both operate in their respective jurisdictions independently.
- Britain, France, Japan, China, Italy, Belgium, Norway,Sweden, Spain, etc. have the unitary model of government.
- The US, Switzerland, Australia,Canada, Russia, Brazil, Argentina etc., have the federal model of government.
- The term ‘federation’ is derived from a Latin word ‘foedus’ which means ‘treaty’ or ‘agreement’.
- The units of a federation are known by various names - states (as in US) or cantons (as in Switzerland) or provinces (as in Canada) or republics (as in Russia).
- A federation can be formed in two ways, that is, by way of integration or by way of disintegration.
- In the first case, a number of militarily weak or economically backward states (independent) come together to form a big and a strong union, as for example, the US.
- In the second case, a big unitary state is converted into a federation by granting autonomy to the provinces to promote regional interest(for example, Canada).
- The framers of Indian Constitution adopted the federal system due to - the large size of the country and its socio-cultural diversity.
- Federal system ensures the efficient governance of the country but combines national unity with regional autonomy.
- However, the term ‘federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution.
- Instead, Article 1 of the Constitution describes India as a ‘Union of States’.
According to Dr. B R Ambedkar, the phrase ‘Union of States’ has been preferred to ‘Federation of States’ to indicate two things -
1. the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement among the states like the American federation; and
2. the states have no right to secede from the federation.
- The federation is union because it is indestructible.
The Indian federation resembles the Canadian federation -
1. in its formation (i.e., by way of disintegration);
2. in its preference to the term ‘Union’ ; and
3. in vesting more powers in the center vis-a-vis the states.
