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Events & Issues
New Delhi, 15 December 2014
Cooperative Federalism
MUST FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
By Dr S Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
At the specially convened meeting of
State Chief Ministers on restructuring the Planning Commission, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi appealed to the spirit of cooperative federalism which is an indispensable
principle for the success of any federal system in a pluralist country. To
foster this spirit in the interest of fast development of the country as a
whole, it is necessary to eliminate the present “incremental approach”
pervading federal relations.
The exercise aims at creating a
mechanism that “plans according to India’s strengths, empowers States,
and brings on board all economic activity”. It is certainly a step towards
uniting all States (political units), all kinds of industries and trades
(economic sectors), and covering all sections of the population (social
divisions). Union-States and inter-State cooperation, and public-private
partnership in the task of national development is going to be promoted
earnestly as integral aspects of national planning.
Modi called for reversing the process
of planning from “top to bottom” to “bottom to top”. To achieve this, the
country needs a different apparatus for planning, pooling of ideas from various
sectors, inclusion of knowledgeable people from different walks of life, and
more importantly provision for genuine and meaningful participation of people
at different levels of governance in the process of planning.
After VP Singh and PV Narasimha Rao
who were Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh respectively before
becoming Prime Ministers, the country is having another PM with long experience
as Chief Minister. One can expect that he will assemble a machinery that will
adopt a national approach of the Central Government and simultaneously cater to
the regional aspirations of State Governments.
The need for such a mechanism is
more in India
than in other federal constitutions because of the heterogeneous character of
the population. The rich diversities in the country are to be taken as assets
to be cultivated and not impediments to be crushed. Hence, the search for a
system of cooperative federalism to accommodate, reflect, and address divergent
issues and problems.
In this context, Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has stated that empowering the States has been one of the critical
beliefs of the NDA Government. He is keen on creating consensus in the Rajya
Sabha for economic reforms as its members elected by State Assemblies enable
the participation of States in the making of Central laws. Bypassing the Rajya
Sabha and pushing policies by convening Joint Sessions amounts to ignoring State
voices.
The term “federal” is not used
anywhere in the Constitution of India. But, the structure of the Government is
doubtless federal. It is often described as a federation with strong unitary
features. The extensive list of
concurrent powers in the Constitution considerably widens the jurisdiction of
the Union Government. There are also some special powers that restrict the
freedom of States. But, these are to be
used only if and when required to safeguard and promote the interests of the
nation.
Economic liberalization has
considerably lessened the powers of the Central Government by removing controls
and adopting market economy. State Governments
as well as the private sector are now free to take a number of economic
decisions. In conformity with these changes, institutions and processes more
conducive to cooperation between the Centre and the States are necessary. Such
cooperation should be voluntary and cannot be enforced.
Along with this, the emergence of
several strong regional parties has given impetus to a new federal spirit that
is reflected in the current emphasis on cooperative federalism and
decentralized planning. There is need to balance national interest against State
autonomy and inter-State equity.
Federalism must prove to be a tool of good governance.
In the legal definition of the US, cooperative
federalism refers to a concept in which State, local and the federal governments
share responsibility in governance. In India where the distribution of
powers is tilted in favour of the Centre, the tendency is towards highly
interventionist policy and attitude of the Central government.
Regions and States differ in levels
of development due to several reasons. Any federation must accept that the
criteria of population size and area cannot be blindly applied in determining
the quantum of Central grants. Deficiency
in the fiscal capacity of backward areas has to be conceded by all in deciding
allocations. So also availability of
unequal natural resources like water between States must be conceded and
rectified by proper policies of sharing without which the talk of cooperative
federalism will become an empty slogan.
A bond of trust and friendship must
underlie the relation between the Centre and the States and among States
irrespective of political party differences. Today, the situation is exactly the
opposite. A legislation mooted by a political party when it was ruling is
opposed by the same party when it happens to be the Opposition party. The
practice of “opposition for the sake of opposition” is rooted in the politics
of parties and legislatures in India.
So also, Centre-States relations are
governed more by party factor than development angle. In fact, one may even be
tempted to assert that political parties are the first enemies of cooperative
federalism. They have to mend their ways and learn to do their part in
governance whichever party or combination of parties is in power.
Federal instruments for
inter-governmental cooperation like the Inter-State Council and National
Integration Council are not as effective as they should be in a vast country
like India.
One reason is the absence of required decentralization of decision-making power
and implementing authority.
Inter-governmental bodies must be empowered and invigorated to promote a
balancing act between different claims and the requirements of unity.
Otherwise, they will dwindle into insignificant bodies.
The third tier of Indian federalism
– the Panchayat bodies – is a constitutional structure that is yet to assert
its role. Though they could be vested with about 30 types of functions, they
are not independent. They are called “institutions of self-government” in
Article 243G incorporated by 73rd amendment. It is a variation of
the term “units of self-government” used in Article 40 of the Constitution
under the Directive Principles.
The real status of the panchayat
bodies is not yet clear. In a genuine cooperative federalism, they will be
empowered local bodies, but protagonists of “good governance” are likely to use
them for better implementation of government programmes at the local level
rather than for participation in decision-making. Such a development is the inevitable result of
backwardness of infrastructure on all fronts requiring concentration of power
at the Central and State levels.
Cooperative federalism functions
smoothly where common interests are predominant and the units are more or less
equal on many dimensions. Politically
and by development measures, the country presents enormous diversities. This
had led to competitive or as some prefer to call it negotiated federalism
manifested in conflicting demands of States from the Centre and from one
another. Building consensus over
conflicting demands by shared decision-making process will also face problems
unless there is maturity of understanding that development is a “non-political’
ideal. True development can take place
only when all constituent parts take part and advance together.
Cooperative federalism is normally
understood in the narrow sense of Union-States relations. Changes like deletion of Article 356 regarding
dismissal of a State government by the President or vesting Concurrent list of
powers with State governments will not promote federalism.
For, cooperative federalism is a
wider concept providing scope for participation of all stakeholders in
development –political, administrative, and civil society outside politics and
administration. It governs government-people collaboration for development.----INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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