ABSTRACT
With a clear, constitutionally guaranteed division of power between the central government and the constituent states,1 effectively policed by an independent Supreme Court; separate, direct elections to the central and regional governments monitored by an independent Election Commission; and the capacity of the political process to sustain a dynamic balance between the jurisdictions of the two sets of governments, India exhibits many of the features of federalism. But India’s membership of this exclusive club remains a matter of some dispute.2 The Indians themselves, as the findings of a national survey3 conducted in 1996 discussed later in this chapter show, do not appear to share these doubts about the existence and effectiveness of a federal government, along with regional and local governments. The political evidence with regard to the characteristics of a federal process (Watts 1998)4 are present and appear to support the conjectures based on the survey data. But scholarly scepticism persists nevertheless and surfaces as part of a larger question: with her multi-ethnic society, structural asymmetry of constituent units, mass illiteracy and poverty, and the uphill task of state-formation and nation-building, why does federalism even in a broader sense survive in India at all?5 The main objective of this chapter is to highlight an important facet of this complex question by focusing on the role of the federal process in facilitating India’s transition from a poor, traditional society, with mass illiteracy, and political heterogeneity reflecting the complex nature of territorial divisions under British rule to its present form in a relatively short time.6
