Mathur Ritika Passi

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federal state with unitary characteristics, depending on the interpretative bias of the individual researcher. Two key constitutional provisions ensure the dominance of the Union government. The functional areas on which the Union and State Legislatures can act are clearly set out in separate lists, along with a third list where either can legislate. But a residual provision ensures that Union legislation always dominates over state-level legislation within the combined list. Further, the Union government enjoys the constitutional right to dismiss any state government, in the event there is a breakdown of the constitutional provisions due to an emergency like war, domestic turmoil or fiscal meltdown. Additional centralising drivers in the constitution make the judiciary vertically integrated, though state governments have greater leeway in appointing the lower judiciary. The senior bureaucracy and police is similarly selected, appointed and managed by the Union government through a specific provision. The supreme audit body is common for both the Union and the state governments. The Scheme for Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers The bulk of the fiscal resources are with the Union government, although they are shared with the provincial governments on the basis of recommendations of a Finance Commission, appointed every five years. Currently around 50% of the aggregate revenue resources of the Union government are transferred to the state governments. State governments in turn allocate resources to local governments, using the recommendations of their own State Finance Commissions. This asymmetry in fiscal powers ensures basic symmetry in developmental policies, incubated primarily by the Union government. Political Plurality Despite political plurality being embedded in the constitution, the force of history helped the Congress Party, which was the main political party at the time of independence in 1947, to retain power at the Centre and in a majority of the provincial governments for thirty years. Ensuring coordinated action between the Union and state governments was consequently an issue of inner party management discipline, much as it is in single-party nations like China. Post 1990, there have been significant changes in the political landscape, such as the fruition of multiparty rule in keeping with the federal structure of the constitution. First, India has had long periods of coalition governments at the Central level, initially in the late 1970s and again after 1990. This is an outcome of a growing asymmetry between local and regional political parties, which are strong at the provincial level, and others which have the capacity to form a national government. India is large and heterogeneous, and asymmetry in political power across the country is a signal of political inclusion and maturity. But it does complicate the business of implementing developmental projects, particularly those of a network character like infrastructure—roads, interstate river development, railways, telecommunication and electricity. Productive federalism has to be consensual to be effective. But the efficiency costs are significant due to stretched time lines for decision-making; higher operational risks of policy reversal; and the incorporation of operational processes which are flexible enough to incorporate local conditions. This is still very much a learning process for a polity which values templates and equality above equity. Enhanced Political Predictability The resilience of the political architecture can be gauged from the fact that political stability has not been unduly affected by political plurality. The constitutional provision for evoking a national emergency has not been used since 1977, and the use of the constitutional power to dismiss a state government has been strictly regulated since 1994 by a decision of the Supreme Court. 5 However, selective curtailment of provincial powers in some border states has been necessary to deal with extremism and terrorism. The Indian constitution has been amended 100 times in the last 65 years 78
to reflect changing dynamics. However, these amendments all align with the basic structure and framework of the constitution—a principle enunciated by the Supreme Court in 1973, which defines the constitutionality of all amendments. Cooperative Federalism at Work The elapse of single-party national governments over the last three decades has resulted in renewed momentum for working in a spirit of co-operative federalism. The ongoing negotiations between the states and the Union government around the Goods and Services Tax is a good example of how a rearrangement of constitutionally mandated taxation powers is possible. The introduction of a combined, single point, value-added tax is expected to reduce transaction cost and avoid the pancaking effect of local, multipoint taxation and increased GDP. Another example, is the implementation of the new land acquisition act, 6 which came into effect on January 1, 2014, months prior to the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA)/Bhartiya Janata Party government coming to power. This act significantly increased the level of mandated participation of stakeholders and the range of compensation offered to those affected. Business and development practitioners have labelled it “anti-development.” Efforts to amend the Union act and make it more balanced in favor of “development” failed due to political gridlock. When this “top-down” approach failed, the frustrated Union government was pushed to encourage individual state governments to legislate their own acts, with the understanding that the Union would nudge the President to assent to such variances. The outcome will be asymmetry across states, with NDA 7 governments opting for efficiency over equity. These emerging trends in the domestic institutional architecture are closely aligned to the principle of common goals but differentiated responsibilities and processes enunciated in the SDG framework. Next steps India has traditionally responded positively to multilateral initiatives. The global environment is a “public good” and there Parliament/bunnicula/Flickr/Creative Commons India's institutional framework can adopt complex goals and coordinate state effort 79
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GP-ORF Series Edited by Vikrom Math
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GLOBAL GOALS, NATIONAL ACTIONS Maki
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( EIGHT Providing Water and Sanitat
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ONE Sustainable Development: Emerge
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esearch and activist organisations
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Financing the SDGs: The Global Conv
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An international framework notwiths
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implementation that could be explor
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with the perpetuation of poverty an
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There is likely to be a lack of com
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INDICATOR BASE YEAR (1990) LATEST S
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Despite schemes like MGNREGA focusi
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have significantly high PHCRs. In f
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However, the MDGs failed to address
Page 29 and 30: 37056-013: Chhattisgarh Irrigation
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Page 37 and 38: SIX Quality of Education for All: C
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Page 43 and 44: SEVEN From MDGs to SDGs: Mainstream
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Page 47 and 48: national priorities. However, it mu
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Page 55 and 56: In India, a variety of policy measu
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Page 61 and 62: Figure 1: India’s Annual GDP Grow
Page 63 and 64: forces people to take up employment
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Page 67 and 68: was that it did not take into accou
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Page 71 and 72: A funding gap of over $400 billion
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Page 83 and 84: Where the Aayog could add value is
Page 85 and 86: This is followed by a ‘norm casca
Page 87 and 88: 17. “India’s Homemade Food Cris
Page 89 and 90: 6. “Women in National Parliaments
Page 91 and 92: working-papers/WP126.pdf. 7. Ming Y
Page 93 and 94: per49_1392022126437.pdf. 2. “Swac
Page 96: The world has formally adopted the
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Mathur Ritika Passi

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