Federalism 4

 How is Federalism Practised?

The real success of federalism in India is attributed to its nature of democratic politics. Have a look at some of

the major ways in which federalism is practised in India.

Linguistic States

The creation of linguistic States was the first and a major test for democratic politics in India. From 1947 to 2017,

many old States have vanished and many new States have been created. Areas, boundaries and names of the States

have been changed. Some States have been formed of the people who speak the same language. These states are

known as Linguistic States.

Language Policy

A second test for Indian federation is the language policy. Hindi was identified as the official language. Besides

Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as Scheduled Languages by the Constitution. States too have their

own official languages and government work takes place in the official language of the concerned State.

Centre-State relations

Restructuring the Centre-State relations is one more way in which federalism has been strengthened in practice.

If no single party gets a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties can 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.

Decentralisation in India

When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to the 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. Local people can also directly participate in the decision making.