Introduction
Both India and the United States are some of the largest democratic nations in the world where federalism is there political structure for governance and administration (Gerston, 2007). In 1789, upon the promulgation of its constitution, the United States became a Federal Republic while India became a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic after its formal launch of its constitution in 1950. Both nations had achieved a dominion status whereby several smaller states got affiliated together forming a union comprising a strong central government which later came to be known as Central Government in India and Federal Government in the United States. Consequently, both the US and India became Federal Republicans. During the process of formulating and drafting the Indian constitution, the constitution drafting committee led by Dr. Ambedkar, borrowed several salient features from different constitutions across the world including that of the US. Hence, both India and the US despite the fact that they have a federal structure, share various similarities and differences between their federalist governments
Similarities between the US federalisms and Indian federalism
The first similarity is that both the US and India are based on a written constitution on which the federal political structure and the functioning of both governments is based on. Both the US and Indian Constitution contain provisions that can be amended for the purpose of meeting the changing political, socio, and economic needs of their countries respectively (Lingam, 2014). Secondly, both the US and India possess a central federal governments where various different states have acceded their loyalty to. The US contains 50 states that have come together joining the federal government. Similarly, the Indian Union comprises 29 states whereby eight union territories have assented to (Kumar, 2014). In both countries, the states that have consented to the Federal structure of government do not have the unilateral power to split from the Union or the Federal government. In both cases, even though the Union Government or the Federal government and the individual states have powers to enact their own laws, the laws that are enacted by the Union or Federal government overrides the laws enacted by the individual states. The Federal government or the Union governments are presently the most supreme.
Differences between the US federalisms and Indian federalism
There are unique differences between the US and India federalisms. The architects of the India constitution randomly created some of the differences. The leader envisage the US Federalism as more rigid and strong, and also being less unitary and more federal. On the other hand, the Federalism in India is seen to be less federal and more unitary which can make someone conclude it to be a quasi-federal state (Lingam, 2014).
One of the major noticeable difference is that the even though there exists a Federal Constitution, the affiliates abide by the Federal Constitution but they also have their own constitutions for regulating their governance. On the other hand in India, the states do not possess their own constitution and owe their allegiance to the Indian Union constitution only. However, the states can enact their own laws that are included in Union constitution and also in the contemporary constitution list (Lingam, 2014). In addition, the US constitution is quite firm more than the Indian. The US constitution is a brief and rigid constitution which is made up of a light content of a few pages while the India constitution is voluminous comprising several parts, more than 390 articles and also ten schedules (Kumar, 2014). In addition, the provisions for the amendment of the US constitution are also rigid and very formal. The US constitution is rarely amended as compared to the Indian constitution which has undergone more than 90 times of amendments since its inception in 1950.
The second difference is that the US makes use of the Presidential form of government where the president is the head of the federal government or the head of state elected democratically through an electoral college while India uses the Parliamentary form of government where the president a nominal head and the prime minister together with his cabinet is the defacto leader with whom the actual power exists (Kumar, 2014).
Both the US and Indian federalism has been successful so far. However, both federal systems can learn from the other in a number of aspects. Even though the US federal system is regarded to be efficient in executing its political and administration duties, it can learn a number of reforms from the Indian system of governance. For instance, the US can learn the idea of having all the states to adopt and use the federal constitution to avoid cases of misunderstanding and also make the process of executing justice similar across all the states in the US. Similar, India can learn from the United States the aspect of having the President as the supreme head of State instead of having a system of the President and the Prime minister which can cause conflicts in power. An elected president by the people is popular in many successful democracies.
The current public sentiment in the US regarding the system of federalism is very positive. Many Americans support the current system and the President as the head of state. Several states are able to manage themselves, enact their own laws, and act on issues affecting them without the influence of the other state. The perception of federalism in India has been also positive. Even though some Indians argue that federalism has not provided a platform to accommodate every member of the society in the political arena, it has greatly contributed to the India’s democracy (Jain, 2014). The conclusion that can be drawn from the comparison of the US and India federalism is that federalism in the two countries has provided the electorates knowledge to live in harmony even though they still maintain their diversities.
- Gerston, L. (2007). American Federalism: A Concise Introduction. M.E. Sharpe.
- Jain, S. (2014). Public opinion and Indian Federalism. Retrieved 26 Feb, 2015 from http://paperroom.ipsa.org
- Kumar, C. (2014). Federalism in India: A Critical Appraisal. Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research (JBM&SSR). Volume 3, No.9
- Lingam, R. (2014). The Similarities and Differences between American Federalism and Indian Federalism. Retrieved 26 Feb, 2015 from https://general-law.knoji.com
