Federal System

The Constitution of India provides for a federal government. A unitary government is one in
which all the powers are vested in the Central government. A federal government, on the other
hand, is one in which powers are divided between the Central government (i.e. national
government or federal government) and state governments by the Constitution itself, and both
operate in their respective jurisdiction independently.

The federal features of the Constitution of India are:

Dual Polity: The Constitution establishes a dual polity (i.e. double government) which consists
of the union at the center and states at the periphery.

Division of Powers: The Constitution divides the powers between the Centre and States in terms
of the Union List, State List and Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule.

Written Constitution: The Constitution of India is a written constitution and defines the
organization, powers and institutions of both the central and states governments.

Supremacy of Constitution: The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and boith the
Central and state laws must conform to it.

Rigid Constitution: The Constitution of India is rigid to the extent that those provisions which
are concerned with the federal polity (i.e. Centre-state relations and judicial organization) can be
amended by the Centre only with the approval of the majority of states.

Independent Judiciary: The Indian Constitution provides for an independent judiciary headed
by the Supreme Court to settle disputes between the Centre and states or between states. It also
protects the supremacy of the Constitution through the power of judicial review, that is, the
power to declare the laws and orders of the Central and state governments as invalid if they are
against the Constitution.

Bicameralism: There is also a provision for a bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper

House (Rajya Sabha) and a Lower House (Lok Sabha). The Rajya Sabha represents the states of
the India Union, while the Lok Sabha represents the people of India as a whole.

Thus, the Constitution of India has deviated from the traditional federal system and incorporated
a large number of unitary or non-federal features, tilting the balance of power in favour of the
Centre. Moreover, the term “Federation” has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1 of
the Constitution, on the other hand describes India as a “Union of States”. This has prompted the
constitutional experts to challenge the federal character of Indian Constitution. Prof. K.C.
Wheare described the Constitution of India as ‘Quasi-federal state with subsidiary unitary
features.’ Similarly Ivor Jennings called it ‘a federation with a centralizing tendency.’ Granville
Austin on the other hand, described Indian federalism as “Cooperative Federalism”. He said that
though the Constitution of India has created a strong Central Government, it has not made the
state government weak and has not reduced them to the level of administrative agencies for the
execution of policies of the Central Government. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said that Indian political
system is both ‘unitary as well as federal according to the requirements of time and
circumstances.’ According to him, the phrase ‘Union of States’ has been preferred to ‘Federation
of States’ to indicate two things: (i) the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement among
the states like the American federation; and (ii) the states have no right to secede from the
federation. The federation is union but it is indestructible.

Parliamentary Government
The Constitution of India provides for a parliamentary form of government, both at the Centre
and in the states. Modern democratic governments are classified into parliamentary and
presidential on the basis of nature of relations between the executive and the legislative organs of
the government. The parliamentary system of government is one in which the executive is
responsible to the legislature for its policies and acts. The presidential system of government, on
the other hand, is one in which the executive is not responsible to the legislature for its policies
and acts, and is constitutionally independent of the legislature in respect of its term in office.
Thus, the President is the head of the state as well as the head of the government and enjoys real
executive powers without being responsible to the legislature.

The parliamentary government is also known as the cabinet government or responsible

government and is prevalent in Britain, Japan, Canada, India and others. The parliamentary
system of government in India is largely based on the British Parliamentary System. However, it
never became a replica of the British system and differs from it in the following respects:

1. India has been a republican system in place of the British monarchial system. In other r
words, the head of the state in India, that is, President is elected, while the head of the
state in Britain, that is, the Monarch (King or Queen) enjoys a hereditary position.

2. The British system is based on the doctrine of the sovereignty of Parliament, while the
Parliament is not supreme in India and enjoys limited and restricted powers due to a
written Constitution, federal system, judicial review and fundamental rights.

3. In Britain, the prime minister should be a member of the Lower House (House of
Commons) of the Parliament. In India, the Prime Minister may be a member of any of the
two Houses of Parliament.

4. Usually, the members of the Parliament alone are appointed as ministers in Britain. In
India, a person who is not a Member of Parliament can also be appointed as minister, but
for a maximum of six months.
5. Britain has a system of legal responsibility of the minister while India has no such
system. Unlike in Britain, the ministers in India are not required to countersign the
official acts of the Head of the State.

6. ‘Shadow Cabinet’ is a unique institution of the British cabinet system. It is formed by the
opposition party to balance the ruling cabinet and to prepare its members for future
ministerial office. There is no such institution in India.

The principles of parliamentary government in India are:

1. Nominal & Real Executive: The President is the Nominal Executive (de jure executive)
while the Prime Minister is the real executive (de facto executive). Thus the President is
the Head of State, while the Prime Minister is the head of the government. The
Constitution of India says that there shall be a council of ministers headed by the Prime
Minister to aid and advise the President in the exercise of his functions, and the advice
tendered is binding on the President (Article 74).

2. Majority Party Rule: The political party which secures majority seats in the Lok Sabha
forms the government. The leader of that party is appointed as the Prime Minister by the
President; other ministers are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime
Minister only (Art.75). however, when no single party gets a majority a coalition front
forms a government and the leader of the coalition front is the obvious choice of the
President for the post of the Prime Minister.

3. Collective Responsibility: This is the bedrock principle of parliamentary government.

The ministers are collectively responsible to the Parliament in general and the Lok Sabha
in particular. They act as a team, and swim and sink together. As part of collective
responsibility, there is individual responsibility, that is, each minister is individually
responsible for the efficient administration of the department under his charge. The
principle of collective responsibility implies that the Lok Sabha can remove the ministry
from office by passing a vote of no confidence.

4. Political Homogeneity: All members of the council of ministers belong to the same
political party. Hence they share the same political ideology. In case of coalition
government, the ministers are bound by consensus.
5. Double Membership: The ministers are members of both, the legislature and the
executive. This means that a person cannot be a minister without being a member of
Parliament. The Constitution says that a minister who is not a member of parliament for a
period of six consecutive months shall cease to be a minister. (Article 75)

6. Leadership of the Prime Minister: The Prime Minister plays the leadership role in this
system of government. He is the leader of council of ministers, leader of the Parliament
and the leader of the party in power. In these capacities, he plays a significant and highly
crucial role in the functioning of the government. It is because of this leadership that a
parliamentary government came to be described as the ‘prime ministerial government’ by
political scientists.

7. Dissolution of the Lower House: The Lower House of the Parliament (Lok Sabha) can
be dissolved by the President on recommendation of the Prime Minister. In other words,
the Prime Minister can advise the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha before the expiry
of its term and hold fresh elections. This means that the executive has the right to get the
legislature dissolved in a parliamentary form of government.

8. Secrecy: the ministers operate on the principle of secrecy of procedure and cannot
divulge information about their proceedings, policies and decisions. They take the oath of
secrecy before entering their office. The oath of secrecy is administered to the ministers
by the President.