Federalism in India: A Study of Union-State Relations

More than 500 princely states and 12 Indian provinces were welded into a federation in 1950. The pattern of democracy in India is inevitably a reflection of the development of federal relations, the stresses and strains between the Centre and the states and between the states themselves. Originally published in 1965, the book gives a lucid exposition of these trends in the first fourteen critical years and also traces the evolution of the Indian Constitution and the complexities which make it distinctive. It analyses the unusual provisions which give the Centre the function of co-ordination and the right to intervene in the affairs of the constituent states. It discusses the possible use of these powers to curtail the sovereignty of the states and even to defeat the policies of a state ruled by a party other than the one controlling the Centre. It also examines different amending processes and the ease with which they have been used to offset the decisions of an independent judiciary and to abridge fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

The book is a natural sequel to the author’s Indian Administration.

Asok Chanda (1902–1972) was Deputy High Commissioner in the U.K., 1948-49; Financial Commissioner for Railways, 1949-52; Secretary, Ministry of Production, 1952-54; Comptroller and Auditor-General, 1954-60. After retirement he was Chairman of the Central Excise Reorganisation Committee and later, Chairman of the Third Constitutional Finance Commission.