CHAPTER – FEDERALISM
QUESTION BANK
CLASS-X
Q1 Mention any two reasons to prove that India is a federal country.
Ans The following are the reasons which proves that India is a federal country.
i) Division of Powers : - The Constitution of India clearly democrats the
powers of the Centra land State Government, both have their separate
areas of jurisdiction. The Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitutions
lists, the Union lists, State List and Concurrent Lists which define the
powers and responsibilities of the Central and State government.
ii) Independent Judiciary: - India has an independent judiciary with the
power of judicial review. The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial
authority of the country and has the power to interpret the Constitution
and resolve disputes between the Central and the State governments.
Q2 The Indian Constitution provides three lists to distribute the legislative
power. State any two subjects that are included in the Union List. In which list
the subject “ Education” is included and why?
Ans The Indian Constitution has a three fold distribution of legislative power,
which contains three lists- the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent List.
The subjects that are included in the Union List are those that are under the
exclusive jurisdiction of the Union government. Some of the subjects that are
included in the Union List are Defense of the country and Foreign affairs and
relations.
The subject “Education” comes under the Concurrent List, which means that
both the Union Government and the State Governments have the power to
make laws on this subject.
The Concurrent List contains subjects that are of common interest to bothe
the Union and the State Government.
Q3 Explain the advantages of decentralization.
Ans The basic idea behind decentralization is that there are large number of
problems and issues which are best settled at the local level. People have better
knowledge of the problems of their own locality.
Decentralisation makes it possible for the people to directly participate in
decision making. This helps the people to develop a habit to participate in
democratic activities. Thus, local government is the best way to realise the
significance of local self government in democracy.
Decentralisation reduces the burden of Central and State Governments. It
helps to concentrate on matters of national and state importance in a better
way.
Decentralisation leads to women empowerment as it provides that at least
one- third of all positions are reserved for women in all the local bodies.
Q4 Why has Federalism succeeded in India? Which three policies adopted
by India have endured this success?
Ans The Policies adopted by Indian Government have ensured the success of
federalism in India.
Policies adopted by India to ensure this success are
Centre state Relations - Federalism has been strengthened by restructuring
of centre-state relations.
Decentralisation - In India , power has been decentralized to the local
government. The local government include panchayats and municipalities.
Linguistic state - The policy of creating linguistic states has also
strengthened federalism. Despite of division, this policy united the nation.
Language Policy Indian federation did not give status of national language
to any language. This ultimately has strengthened federalism.
Q5 What are Residuary Subjects?
Ans Subjects which do not fall into any of the three lists like computer software
and its related issues.
Q6 What are ‘Union Territories’?
Ans These areas are too small to become an independent state but they could
not be merged with any of the existing states. These areas are called ‘Union
territories.
Q7 How is sharing of power between the Union and the State governments
basic to the structure of the Constitution of India. Explain.
Ans Power sharing basic structure of Constitution.
It is not easy to make changes to power sharing arrangements.
Parliament can’t change this arrangement on its own.
Any change to it has to be first passed by both the Houses of Parliament,
with at least 2/3rd majority.
Then it has to be ratified by legislature of at least half of the total states.
