UNRAVELING INDIA’S FEDERAL GOVERNANCE : A CIRCUMSTANTIAL EXPLORATION

Federalism is an apparatus where the powers are shared between several layers of government. This form of government acknowledges for the compromise of heterogeneity and topographical sovereignty within the diplomatical system. Our country is said to follow federalism incorporated with few undivided characteristics. Cooperative federalism is a form of government where the powers are shared among the elemental states and the central government, which is in implementation in our country. But India is in fact said to be a quasi-federal government due to the diluted distribution of power to the constituent states. One of the most unadulterated advantages of federalism is the decentralisation of power within the constituency. Now, the popular debate is whether the central wields so much power that it undue influences the states and confiscate their independence?

This study particularly endeavours to unearth the discrepancies in the federal governance in India which is said to be a “federation without federalism”. The main finding of the study is the deep-rooted conception of political democracy in the form of federalism. Under the perpetual substitute of political dynamics, our country has witnessed persistent variation in the functioning of the federal system which is the core of this paper. The relentless issue in the federal governance of our country is the unequivocal power of the central government over the constituent states which is in contradiction with the fundamental objective of the federal system but is it really against the objective of federalism? this paper endeavours to answer that in its findings. Thus, this study finds it peremptory to analyse the functioning of federal governance in India and appraise its influence on the democracy of India. The study also has analysed the compact relationship between the centre and the state.