Federalism

What federalism is, how India divides powers between the Union and the States through three lists, language policy, and local government after 1992.

Key ideas

In a federation power is divided between a central government and constituent units, each with its own powers over the same citizens.
Federations are “coming together” (USA, Switzerland) or “holding together” (India, Spain, Belgium).
The Constitution sets out the powers, basic provisions need both levels to agree before they change, and courts settle disputes.
India’s Constitution has a Union List, a State List and a Concurrent List; residuary subjects, like computer software, go to the Union.
If Union and State laws on a Concurrent subject clash, the Union law prevails.
India has no national language: Hindi is the official language alongside 21 other Scheduled Languages, and it is not imposed on States.
The 1992 amendment made local government a real third tier, with regular elections, reserved seats and State Election Commissions.

Remember

Union List	defence, foreign affairs, banking
State List	police, agriculture, irrigation
Concurrent List	education, forests, marriage
Changing basic provisions	two-thirds of both Houses + at least half the State legislatures
Rural local bodies	gram panchayat (sarpanch) → panchayat samiti (block) → zilla parishad (district)
Women in local bodies	at least one-third of seats

Watch out

Putting police on the Union List: it is a State subject.
Calling Hindi the national language: it is the official language.
Mixing up the two kinds: India is a holding-together federation.

Worked example

(a) In Census 2011, Hindi was spoken by 43.63% and Tamil by 5.70%. What is the difference? (b) Out of 4,100,000 people, about how many speak Tamil? (c) Why does India have no national language?

Working: 43.63 − 5.70; 5.70% of 4,100,000

Answer: (a) 37.93 percentage points (b) about 233,700 (c) To respect its many languages; Hindi is official alongside 21 other Scheduled Languages, and no language is imposed.