Federalism Test - 13

Subjects which are not present in any of the lists mentioned in the constitution are known as Residuary Subjects. Union Government has the powers to make laws on Residuary Subjects. Such subjects include: Computer software, e-commerce etc. These subjects came into being after the constitution was created.

 For a long time, the same party ruled both at the Centre and in most of the States. This meant that the State governments did not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units.As and when the ruling party at the State level was different, the parties that ruled at the Centre tried to undermine the power of the States. All this changed significantly after 1990. This period saw the rise of regional political parties in many States of the country.  Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to enter into an alliance with many parties including several regional parties to form a government at the Centre. This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of State Governments. 

• 'Coming together' federation is nothing but independent states coming together on their own to form a bigger state or country.Independent states pool their sovereignty but retain their independent status.Dual citizenship is given to citizens of the state. Examples: USA, Switzerland, Australia.

• The federal form of government was first established in USA
• USA is a fine example of 'Coming together' federation.
  
• 'Coming together' federation is nothing but independent states coming together on their own to form a bigger state or country.
• Independent states pool their sovereignty but retain their independent status.
• Dual citizenship is given to citizens of the state.

For a long time, the same party ruled both at the Centre and in most of the States. This meant that the State governments did not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units. As and when the ruling party at the State level was different, the parties that ruled at the Centre tried to undermine the power of the States. All this changed significantly after 1990. This period saw the rise of regional political parties in many States of the country.  Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to enter into an alliance with many parties including several regional parties to form a government at the Centre. This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of State Governments. This trend was supported by a major judgement of the Supreme Court that made it difficult for the Central Government to dismiss state governments in an arbitrary manner. 

The Indian Constitution seeks to maintain the balance of power between the centre and states by providing for a federal system of government. However, the term ‘federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1 of the Indian Constitution describes ‘India, that is Bharat’ as a ‘Union of States’, an expression which implies two things. Firstly, the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement between the states. Secondly, the states do not have a right to secede from the federation. In fact the States of the Indian federation have no independent existence of their own. Parliament can alter their names and territories without their consent.

• Holding together federation is nothing but the division of powers between the states of the country and central government of that country. Central government is more powerful than the states.
• Example- India, Spain

When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government, it is called decentralisation. The basic idea behind decentralisation is that there are a large number of problems and issues which are best settled at the local level. 

Police is not included in the Union List. It is included in the State LIst

The State List or List-II is a list of 61 items (Initially there were 66 items in the list) in Schedule Seven to the Constitution of India. The 2^nd item listed in it says that Police (including railway and village police) subject to the provisions of Entry 2-A of List-I.