Essay On Federalism

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The kind of emergency provisions as existed in the Indian Constitution are to be found in the U.S.A., Canada, and at sight may appear to be drastic and out of place in a democratic and federal country. But it is not entirely so if the matter is probed into somewhat deeply. Once viewed in the light of adjustments and developments which come about in other federations under the impact of an emergency like war when these federations undergo a kind of a silent metamorphis.

Federalism, says Dicey, is a weak government because of the distribution of powers between the Centre and the Units, but the wartime experiences of the U.S.A., Canada and in Australia have shown that this is not necessarily so and that a federation can very well stand the test of time. As Corwin has asserted, federalism as a system of counterpoise is no longer viable in the field of war making, and therefore there is incompability between the requirements of total war and principles thus far deemed to be fundamental to government under the Constitution. These federations have faced the emergency of two fold wars[1911-1914 and 1935-1945]. In the U.S.A. and Australia, the emergency was met by the Courts giving an expansive and liberal interpretation to the war or the defence power of the Centre and thus giving it a greater area of operation than its peace time ambit so as to do all things which are necessary for the safety of the Country, or the effective prosecution of war.

In Canada, the general power of the Centre was interpreted by the Courts broadly and so the Centre became more powerful during the war time than it would it would in the peace time.

During the war crisis, the Constitutions of the U.S.A, Canada and Australia functioned very differently from t...

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... Central Reserve Police to protect the Central Government property in these states have already been referred to.

To get over these problems, the 42nd amendment of the Constitution added a new provision, Article 256A into the Constitution enabling the Centre to deploy any armed forces of the Union, and any such force had to act subject to the control and directions of the Centre and not of the concerned state government.

Under Article 257A, the Centre could act without the concurrence of the concerned state Government. However, the law minister gave an assurance on the floor of Parliament that the power under Article 257A would be used only in exceptional situations and in consultation with the concerned state government. To give full affect to Article 257A, some changes were made in the legislative entries in three lists. A new entry 2A, was added to Lists 1 .

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