Federalism Test - 14

Sharing of power between the Union Government and the State governments is basic to the structure of the Constitution. It is not easy to make changes to this power sharing arrangement. The Parliament cannot on its own change this 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 can make a decision. 

The Constitution provides for a three-fold distribution of legislative subjects between the Union and the states, viz., List-I (the Union List), List-II (the State List) and List-III (the Concurrent List) in the Seventh Schedule:

(i) The Parliament has exclusive powers to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the Union List. This list has at present 100 subjects (originally 97 subjects) like defense, banking, foreign affairs, currency, atomic energy, insurance, communication, inter-state trade and commerce, census, audit and so on.

(ii) The state legislature has in normal circumstances exclusive powers to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List. This has at present 61 subjects (originally 66 subjects) like public order, police, public health and sanitation, agriculture, prisons, local government, fisheries, markets, theaters, gambling and so on.

(iii) Both, the Parliament and state legislature can make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the Concurrent List.

 The federal system has dual objectives: to safeguard and promote unity of the country, while at the same time accommodate regional diversity. Therefore, two aspects are crucial for the institutions and practice of federalism.

This ensured that the spirit of federalism, respect for diversity and desire for living together became a shared ideal in our country.

Residuary powers are those powers which can be made by the parliament only. It is different from 3 lists, union list, state list, and concurrent list. These powers are neither under the legislative powers of the State nor the Union. Parliament has exclusive power to make any law with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Concurrent List or State List. Such power shall include the power of making any law imposing a tax not mentioned in either of those Lists.

Democracy provides mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of social conflict. Democratic governance is generally conducive to the resolution of both civil and international conflict. The spread of democracy is good for international society as a whole, for the security of democratic states in particular, and the peoples residing in war-torn regions of the globe.

Government in any nation is a pivotal institution responsible for the proper governance and maintenance of the law and order in the country. The government has multiple responsibilities that  are to look after its citizens, provide for security and maintaining boundaries of the nation. It collects taxes from the citizens to generate revenue to provide for the welfare programmes and schemes for the people. 

The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution provides for the Lists of Subjects over which the Center and State Government can make laws in exercise of their legislative powers. It consists of three list i.e., Union List, on which Centre can make law, State List,on which State can make law and the Concurrent List over which both the center and state can make laws.

Arunachal Pradesh was known as the North-East Frontier Agency till 1972. On 20th January 1972, the area was renamed as "Arunachal Pradesh". In the same year it was declared as a full-fledged Union Territory. It was granted Statehood in 20th February 1987.

The Indian Constitution provides for a three-tier system of government which provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary features.