Federalism Class 10 Notes – This chapter talks about the division of power among different levels of government.

Civics Federalism Class 10 Notes Chapter 2

Q. What is federalism

Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituents units of the country.

Types of the government of federation –

1. Government for the entire country  responsible for a few subjects ofnational interest.                   
2. other government at the local level which looks after the administration.                                                               

Unitary system – either one level of government or sub-units which are either deputy to the central government.

Features of federalism –

1. Two or more level of governments
2. Different tiers of government govern the same citizen but each tier has its own authority
3. The fundamental arrangements of constitution cannot be changed by one level of government
4. Court have the power to interpret the constitution and power of all level of government
5. The revenue sources for each level of government are clearly specified to ensure financial autonomy
6. Federalism particularly has dual objectives – safeguard and promote unity and accommodate regional diversity

Kinds of federalism –

1. Coming together – independent states merging on their own to form a bigger unit. E.g. –U.S.A, Switzerland
2. Holding together – when a large country decide to divide its power between states and national governments. E.g. – India, Spain.

India a federal country –

1. After independence constitution declared India as a ‘union of states’
2. Indian union is focused on the principal of federalism

Q. What makes India a federal country –

1. The constitution originally provided for a two-tier government. i.e. – central government and state government
2. Further  the third tier of federalism was added in the form of panchayats and municipalities
3. Constitution of India provide a three fold administration of legislative power between union government and state government

Thus it contains three lists-;

1. Union list – include subjects of national importance. E.g. – defense, foreign affairs
2. State list – contains subjects related to state and local importance. E.g.- police, trade, agriculture
3. Concurrent list – include subjects of both union and state government. E.g. – education, forest

How federalism is practiced-

1. linguistic states –

boundaries of several old states were changed in 1947 to create new ones

How states were created-

1. Some on basis of language
2. Some on basis of culture

This was to ensure that people practicing the same culture and language lived in the same state.

2. language policy-

1. No national language of our country
2. Hindi was identified as official language
3. 21 other languages were also recognized as scheduled languages by constitution
4. States too have their official languages
5. English along with Hindi are used as official languages

Center-state relations-

1. Center-state relation is one more way in which federalism has strengthened in India
2. the beginning of coalition government  led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of state government.

Decentralization in India-

When power is taken away from the center and state government and state given to local authority is called decentralization, in simple words power is given to the local government.

Ideas behind decentralization-

1. There are a large number of issues which can be best solved at local level.
2. People have better knowledge of their localities
3. Have better ways to spend money.
4. People can directly take part in the process of decision making
5. For e.g.- panchayats in villages

Major steps taken in 1992-

1. Became Constitutionally compulsory to hold regular elections (voting) to local government
2. Seats reserved ion the elected bodies
3. One-third (1/3) seats for women
4. State election commission an independent institution was setup to conduct these elections
5. State governments are needed to share power and revenue

Rural local government-

1. Popularly known as Panchayati raj
2. Gram panchayat – each village or groups of villages has a gram panchayats the decision making body of the entire village
3. Panchayat samiti – a few gram panchayat are grouped together
4. Zilla parishad- panchayat samiti in a district together constitute zilla parishad

Urban local government –

1.  Big cities constituted into municipal corporation
2. Head – municipal chairperson (mayor)

Features of Indian federalism-

1. Every state do not access same power
2. Parliament own its own cannot change power sharing. Any change should be passed in both the houses. i.e. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha with atleast2/3 majority
3. Judiciaries inspect the implementation of constitutional provisions and procedures.

we hope that the given federalism class 10 notes will help you in understanding the concepts of the chapter.

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