India has a federal system of government. Explain
Answers
Federalism in India describes the distribution of legal authority across national, state and local governments in India. It is embedded from the Canadian model of federalism.
The Constitution of India establishes a federal structure to the Indian government, declaring it to be a "Union of States". Part XI of the Indian constitution specifies the distribution of legislative, administrative and executive powers between the Union/Federal/Central government and the States of India.[1] The legislative powers are categorised under a Union List, a State List and a Concurrent List, representing, respectively, the powers conferred upon the Union government, those conferred upon the State governments and powers shared among them.
This federalism is asymmetric in that the devolved powers of the constituent units are not all the same. The state of Jammu and Kashmir was accorded a higher degree of autonomy than other States under Article 370.[1] Union Territories are unitary type, directly governed by the Union government. Article 1 (1) of the constitution stipulates two tier-governance with an additional local elected government. Delhi and Puducherry were accorded legislatures under Article 239AA and 239A, respectively.[1]
The fundamental rights of citizens vary by state per Article 31 (B), as changes are added to Constitution schedule IX by constitutional amendments.[2]