Question

8. How does the Indian Constitution ensure the distribution of powers among all
the tiers of the Government?
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Answer 1

Explanation:

The division of power between the Central and State Governments is done in a three fold distribution of legislative powers between the Union and the State Governments.

There are three lists - Union List, State List and Concurrent List.

(i) Union List: It includes subjects of national importance, e.g., defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communication and currency. The Central Government alone can make decisions on these matters.

The aim of including these matters in Union List is to ensure uniformity in the policy of these areas throughout the country.

(ii) State List: It consists subjects of state and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation. The State Governments alone can make laws and decisions on these areas.

(iii) Concurrent List: It includes those subjects which are of common interest to both the Central as well as State Governments. It includes matters like education, forests, marriage and trade unions. Both the State and Central Governments can make decision on these matters.

Answer 2

Answer:

The Constitution provides for a three-fold distribution of legislative subjects between the Union and the states, viz., List-I (the Union List), List-II (the State List) and List-III (the Concurrent List) in the Seventh Schedule: (i) The Parliament has exclusive powers to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the Union List. This list has at present 98 subjects (originally 97 subjects)(101st constitutional amendment Act 2016 removed 92 and 92C) like defence, banking, foreign affairs, currency, atomic energy, insurance, communication, inter-state trade and commerce, census, audit and so on. (ii) The state legislature has “in normal circumstances” exclusive powers to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List. This has at present 59 subjects (originally 66 subjects) (101st constitutionak amendment Act, 2016 removed 52 and 55) like public order, police, public health and sanitation, agriculture, prisons, local government, fisheries, markets, theaters, gambling and so on. (iii) Both, the Parliament and state legislature can make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the Concurrent List. This list has at present 52 subjects (originally 47 subjects) like criminal law and procedure, civil procedure, marriage and divorce, population control and family planning, electricity, labour wel-fare, economic and social planning, drugs, newspapers, books and printing press, and others.

Explanation: