Federalism

You live in Navi Mumbai, pay property tax to a municipal corporation, vote for a State Assembly, and file your income tax return with the Centre. Three governments, one citizen. Who decided which government does what, and can the Centre simply redraw the map if it wishes? The Constitution answers with a careful phrase: India is a Union of States. This topic asks what that phrase means, how far India is really federal, and where villages, cities, tribal areas and special-status States fit in.

In two minutes

India is a Union of States (Art.1): a federal structure with a written division of powers and a Supreme Court as umpire, but with enough central levers that courts and writers call it quasi-federal, federal in form and flexible in spirit.

The rest of this chapter

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