Dr S Saraswathi
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)
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