1.1. Federalism in India

While India is a federation, the nature of the India’s federalism is often discussed. Some have argued that it is a quasi-federal arrangement. Others consider it as having a unitary character, with many federal features.

Moreover, though India has a federal form of government, the world federalism/federation has not been used in the Indian Constitution (the Constitution does not expressly declare India as a federation). Article 1 of the Constitution says that India is a Union of States.

But explanation for the same can be found in Dr. Ambedkar’s speech to the Constituent Assembly: “The use of word ‘union’ is deliberate. I can tell you why the Drafting Committee has used it. The Drafting Committee wanted to make it clear that though India was to be a federation, the federation was not the result of an agreement by the states to join in a federation, and that the federation not being the result of an agreement, no state has the right to secede from it.”

India’s position, thus, is significantly different from that of USA, where states bargained and a federation was created. The overriding concern at the time of drafting the Constitution was the "unity and integrity of India". This led to a number of factors that gave the Indian Constitution a decidedly unitary tilt, with several provisions in favour of the Union. Some of them have been mentioned below: