Ramana Vidyalaya (CBSE), Sholinganallur

Answer Key - 8
Civics - Federalism (Aug 2025)

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Section A - Answer the following questions in Brief/Detail

1.​ What is federalism? (3)

●​ Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central
authority and various constituent units of the country.
●​ Usually, a federation has two levels of government. One is the government for the entire
country that is usually responsible for a few subjects of common national interest.
●​ The others are governments at the level of provinces or states that look after much of the
day-to-day administering of their state.
●​ Both these levels of governments enjoy their power independent of the other.

2.​ Differentiate between Unitary and Federal form of government.(3)

S.no Unitary Government Federal Government

1 In this system, either there is only one In this system, there are two or more
level of government or the sub-units levels of government.
are subordinate to the central
government.

2 The Central government can pass The Central government cannot pass
orders to the state and the local orders to the state and the local
government. government.

3 State government has no power on its State government has its own power on
own state subjects and for which it is not
answerable to the central government.

4 Ex : China, Sri Lanka Ex: India, Belgium

3.​ List out the key features of federalism. (5)

Refer text book - page 15
4.​ Explain the two routes through which federations have been formed (or) Distinguish between
coming together federations and holding together federations with examples. (3)

S.No Coming together Holding together

1 Independent states come together on A large country decides to divide its

their own to form a bigger unit. All the power between the constituent States
states pool their sovereignty and retain and the National government
identity and increase their security

2 All the constituent states usually have The central government tends to be
equal power more powerful than the states. Very
often different constituent units of the
federation have unequal powers. Some
units are granted special powers.

3 Ex - USA, Switzerland Ex - India, Spain

5.​ a) What makes India a federal country? (2)

●​ The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of government, the Union
Government or what we call the Central Government, representing the Union of India and
the State governments.
●​ Later, a third tier of federalism was added in the form of Panchayats and Municipalities. As
in any federation, these different tiers enjoy separate jurisdiction.

b) Explain with reference to the three-fold distribution of legislative powers between the Union and
state governments. (3)
●​ The Union List includes subjects of national importance such as defence of the country,
foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency. The Union Government alone can
make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the Union List.
●​ State List contains subjects of State and local importance such as police, trade, commerce,
agriculture and irrigation.The State Governments alone can make laws relating to the
subjects mentioned in the State List.
●​ Concurrent List includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Government as well
as the State Governments, such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and
succession. Both the Union as well as the State Governments can make laws on the subjects
mentioned in this list. If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the Union
Government will prevail.

6.​ “Most federations that are formed by ‘holding together; do not give equal power to its constituent
units.” Explain this statement with examples from India. (3)
●​ All states in the Indian Union do not have identical powers.
 ●​ Some states such as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram enjoy special powers under
certain provisions of the Indian Constitution - Article 371 due to their peculiar social and
historical circumstances.
●​ These special powers are - Protection of land rights of indigenous people, their culture and
preferential employment in government services.
●​ Indians who are not permanent residents of the State cannot buy houses or land here.
●​ The Union territories do not have the power of a state. They are directly governed by the
Central Government except for a few territories which have its own legislature.

7.​ How can power sharing arrangements between the Union and State Government be changed?(3)
●​ Sharing of power between the Union Government and the State governments is basic to the
structure of the Constitution.
●​ It is not easy to make changes to this power sharing arrangement.
●​ QThe Parliament cannot on its own change this arrangement. Any change to it has to
be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament with at least two-thirds majority.
●​ Then it has to be ratified by the legislatures of at least half of the total States.
●​ In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court
can make a decision.

8.​ What is the role of the judiciary in the implementation of the constitutional provisions and
procedures?(3)
●​ The judiciary plays an important role in overseeing the implementation of constitutional
provisions and procedures.
●​ In case of any dispute about the division of powers, the High Courts and the Supreme Court
make a decision.
●​ The Union and State governments have the power to raise resources by levying taxes in
order to carry on the government and the responsibilities assigned to each of them.

9.​ a) On what basis the states are divided in India? (3)

●​ In 1947, the boundaries of several old States of India were changed in order to create new
States.
●​ This was done to ensure that people who spoke the same language lived in the same State.
●​ Some States were created not on the basis of language but to recognise differences based
on culture, ethnicity or geography. These include States like Nagaland, Uttarakhand and
Jharkhand.

b) Discuss the benefits of dividing states in linguistic lines? (2)

●​ The formation of linguistic States has actually made the country more united.
●​ It has also made administration easier

10.​Explain the language policy of the Indian federation. (5)

●​ Our Constitution did not give the status of national language to any one language. Hindi
was identified as the official language.
●​ Besides Hindi, there are 21 other languages recognised as Scheduled Languages by the
Constitution. A candidate in an examination conducted for the Central Government
 positions may opt to take the examination in any of these languages.
●​ The Central Government has agreed to continue the use of English along with Hindi for
official purposes.
●​ States too have their own official languages. Much of the government work takes place in
the official language of the concerned State.
●​ Promotion of Hindi continues to be the official policy of the Government of India.
Promotion does not mean that the Central Government can impose Hindi on States where p
eople speak a different language

11.​What challenges did centre- state relations in India face before the 1990s?
●​ For a long time, the same party ruled both at the Centre and in most of the States. This
meant that the State governments did not exercise their rights as autonomous federal units.
●​ As and when the ruling party at the State level was different, the parties that ruled at the
Centre tried to undermine the power of the States.
●​ In those days, the Central Government would often misuse the Constitution to dismiss the
State governments that were controlled by rival parties. This undermined the spirit of
federalism

12.​The rise of coalition governments has strengthened federalism in India. Justify. (3)
●​ After 1990, India saw the rise of regional political parties in many States of the country. This

was also the beginning of the era of COALITION GOVERNMENTS at the Centre.

●​ Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to

`enter into an alliance with many parties including several regional parties to form a

government at the Centre.

●​ This led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of State

Governments.

●​ This trend was supported by a major judgement of the Supreme Court that made it difficult

for the Central Government to dismiss state governments in an arbitrary manner.

●​ Thus, federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in the early years after the

Constitution came into force.

13.​a) What is decentralisation? (1)

When power is taken away from Central and State governments and given to local government, it is
called decentralisation.

b) What is the basic idea behind it? (4)

●​ The basic idea behind decentralisation is that there are a large number of problems and
issues which are best settled at the local level.
 ●​ People have better knowledge of problems in their localities.
●​ They also have better ideas on where to spend money and how to manage things more
efficiently.
●​ Besides, at the local level it is possible for the people to directly participate in decision
making. This helps to inculcate a habit of democratic participation.
●​ Local government is the best way to realise one important principle of democracy, namely
local self-government.

14.​ How did the Indian Constitution take a major step towards decentralisation in 1992 to make the
third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective? (5)
●​ Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies.
●​ Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
●​ At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women.
●​ An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each
State to conduct panchayat and municipal elections.
●​ The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local
government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from State to State

15.​Explain the working of the Rural local governments in India. (5)

●​ Rural local government is popularly known by the name Panchayati raj.
●​ Each village, or a group of villages in some States, has a gram panchayat.
●​ This is a council consisting of several ward members, often called panch, and a president or
sarpanch. They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village.
●​ The panchayat works under the overall supervision of the gram sabha. All the voters in the
village are its members. It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual
budget of the gram panchayat and to review the performance of the gram panchayat.
●​ The local government structure goes right up to the district level. A few gram panchayats are
grouped together to form what is usually called a panchayat samiti or block or mandal. The
members of this representative body are elected by all the panchayat members in that area.
●​ All the panchayat samitis or mandals in a district together constitute the zilla (district)
parishad. Most members of the zilla parishad are elected. Members of the Lok Sabha and
MLAs of that district and some other officials of other district level bodies are also its
members.
●​ Zilla parishad chairperson is the political head of the zilla parishad

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