{"id":118652,"date":"2021-07-14T20:05:50","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T14:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=118652"},"modified":"2021-07-14T20:05:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T14:35:50","slug":"the-upcoming-crisis-in-indian-federalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-upcoming-crisis-in-indian-federalism\/","title":{"rendered":"The upcoming crisis in Indian federalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GV18P01KM.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: Delimitation of the constituency is a major bone of contention. It somewhere disincentivizes population control.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The freeze on Lok Sabha seats would be removed after 2026. The centre should therefore take appropriate steps so that states which have managed to control their population are not punished politically.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Indian Constitution may face an unprecedented crisis in 2026 when there will be a dramatic change in the composition of the Lok Sabha.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 1976, seats in the Lok Sabha have reflected the 1971 census and<\/span><b> have not taken into account changes in the population.\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The primary reason for this has been unequal population growth among States.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s most highly developed and prosperous States have been successful at family planning, while the poorer States continue to expand.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>freeze was thus a chance to ensure that India\u2019s most successful States are not punished politically for their success<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Reason behind emergence of crisis:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Post 2026, when this compact ends, there will be a seismic shift in national power towards India\u2019s poorest and most populated States.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This would generate much resentment among the States that will lose political and economic power and influence. This calls for a realignment in the <\/span><b>balance between the democratic principle and the federal principle in the Indian Constitution.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>About Indian Federalism<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Article 1 of the Indian Constitution <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">says, India is a Union of States. The choice of words is deliberate: it is the several States that, together, make up the Indian Union.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has adopted a unique quasi-federal structure with a strong centre. The ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity of India made the adoption of federalism inevitable, but the fear of separatist tendencies warranted establishment of a strong centre.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Tussle between democratic principle and the federal principle<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An inherent contradiction between the principles of democracy and federalism arises when federal units are unequal, population and economics.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>In a democratic setup, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">all citizens are equal and are thus entitled to equal representation in governance<\/span><b>. But this would imply that bigger States are likely to dominate the national conversation over smaller States<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Small States fear that they would get a smaller share of the pie economically, a much reduced say in national issues, and be irrelevant in the political governance of the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, federal democracies have incorporated into their governing structures <\/span><b>various kinds of compromises to ensure a balance between democratic principles and federal ones.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>For instance, US Constitution <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">protects states in following ways:<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National powers over the States are limited<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each State regardless of size had two seats in the Senate, giving smaller States an outsized role in national governance<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Presidents are elected by electoral votes, which means they must win States rather than the total national population. Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump won without winning the popular vote.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, <\/span><b>India enabled formation of various states on linguistic basis in 1956<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to uphold federal principles and respect the demands of people for greater autonomy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>What can India do to alleviate the fear of less populous states?<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>First<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>powers <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of States vis-\u00e0-vis the Centre contained in the Lists and in the provisions dealing with <\/span><b>altering boundaries of States must be increased. This will alleviate the fear of smaller States of being dominated by bigger ones<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Second<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the role and composition of the Rajya Sabha must be expanded. This would allow smaller States a kind of brake over national majoritarian politics that adversely impact them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Third<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>constitutional change and the change in financial redistribution between the States <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">must require the consent of all or nearly all States<\/span><b>. The fate of the Go<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ods and Services Tax, or GST, serves as a salutary warning in this regard.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fourth, serious thought must be given to breaking up the biggest States into smaller units. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This would prevent them from dominating the national conversation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Way Ahead:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National bonds of affection and patriotism will not be severed by devolution of powers though they will be at least severely strained when one part of the country is empowered over another.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is an urgent <\/span><b>need to reimagine our national compact <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014 another freeze will only kick this thorny issue down the road and will continue to perpetuate an increasingly undemocratic set up.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu\u00a0 Relevance: Delimitation of the constituency is a major bone of contention. It somewhere disincentivizes population control. Synopsis: The freeze on Lok Sabha seats would be removed after 2026. The centre should therefore take appropriate steps so that states which have managed to control their population are not punished politically. Background: The Indian&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-upcoming-crisis-in-indian-federalism\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The upcoming crisis in Indian federalism<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704876462},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}