Question

What are the demands raised by States in their quest for greater autonomy?

Answer 1

The States have raised the demands for autonomy. This sense of autonomy has the different meaning and different methods have been adopted by different States and different parties. Some States want to get more powers than the Centre. One of the demands for autonomy is that States should have independent sources of revenue. In the autonomy demands of Tamil Nadu and Punjab also, there was an implicit support to the idea of greater financial powers. The States resent the control of the Centre over the administrative machinery. Autonomy demands may also be related to cultural and linguistic issues. Residual powers have been allotted to the Centre by the Constitution. But some of the States think that they are in a weak position and that the centre's position is very strong and that harm their interests. Parliament is empowered to enact laws on the State subjects given in the State List. The States feel helpless at this.

Answer 2

The demands raised by states in their quest for greater autonomy are:

1. Demands for division of powers between state and centre and more powers and important powers be assigned to the States. Example: Many States (Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal) and many parties (DMK, Akali Dal, CPI-M) have made demands of autonomy from time to time.

2. Financial Autonomy: Demand for independent sources of revenue and greater control over the resources.

3. Administrative Autonomy: States have demanded that centre should not have control over the administrative machinery of state.

4. Cultural and Linguistic Autonomy:Some states have demanded for autonomy on the basis of culture and language. Some States also feel that there is a domination of the Hindi-speaking areas over the others. Example during the decade of 1960s, there were agitations in some States against the imposition of the Hindi language