Why in News?

There needs to be a federal coalition to preserve the idea of a plural India, in terms of culture and politics.

Syllabus— GS 2: Centre state relations, Federalism

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• When Dr. Vinod K. Paul, NITI Aayog Member (Health), asserted last week that it was the lack of centralisation that has led to poor management of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive, States joined issue with this statement.
• Going by the response to this assertion from State governments, it was clear that this claim was not backed by good evidence.
• Not many could have misread the subtext of this claim for centralisation. It lies within, and simultaneously contributes to, a narrative and practice of the growing centralisation of power by the current government.
• This sits well with the growing incursions of the Union government into sectors where State governments have a primary responsibility to govern such as health, education and agriculture.
• Slogans such as ‘one nation-one tax, one market and one ration’ are again part of such appeals to a narrative of a strong nation state rather than one of governance.

Union encroachment

• Inpost independent India, the Centre, on several occasions, has used its powers to dismiss democratically elected governments.
• During the Emergency, education was moved to the Concurrent list which was until then a State subject under the constitutional division of responsibilities.
• It is seen that there has been increasing centralisation in resource allocations and welfare interventions.
• The shortfall of GST and the Centre’s lackadaisical response to demands for compensation by State governments are known.
• The Centre has been accused of encroaching into domains under State government control through centrally sponsored schemes in sectors such as education and health where States are required to spend about 85% and 82% of public expenditure, respectively.

 State-capital Relations

• The author argues that there has been consolidation and expansion of a few big business groups seen to be close to the central ruling party, at the expense of smaller players.
• Insulating Indian big business from global competition by choosing not to enter into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
• The writer says that it has eroded the power of small businesses through support for GST and the call for a single national market.
• Regional parties tend to rely on regionspecific rent thick sectors for political funding such as mining and real estate.
• The author alleges that the central ruling party has sought to curtail this through a levelling of corruption allegations and the use of central agencies to keep regional parties in check.

 Institutional Transgression

• Another challenge is in the use of executive and legislative aggression.
• Central institutions are increasingly weakening the policy levers of State institutions.
• Institutions such as the Income Tax Department, the Enforcement Directorate and the National Investigation Agency are being used to intimidate opponents.
• Direct transfers to beneficiaries of welfare schemes bypassing States are also contributing to this factor.
• Centre is increasingly ignoring elected representatives of State governments, holding meetings with State secretaries and district collectors on issues that are primarily under State control.
• Recent example was a recent meeting by Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank with State Education Secretaries on implementation of the New Education Policy.
• This trend is evident in the domain of health as well. National lockdown  was imposed during the first wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic without consulting State governments
• The Centre has now put State governments at a disadvantage in vaccine usage by fixing differential pricing for procuring vaccines for them. This forces State governments to pay more even as they are deprived of their revenue shares.

Socio-cultural Foundation

• According to Partha Chatterjee, “beside the legal constitutional aspects of federalism, it is diversity in cultural foundation of regions that sustains Indian federalism.”
• However, this diversity is being challenged at present. Markers of regional identities and regional sociocultural practices are now interpreted as belonging to a pan Indian Hindu tradition.
• ‘Dravidian’ is attacked as a creation of the British with support from Christian missionaries, emptying the term of its anticaste politics.

Way Forward: –

• This erosion of federal relations is often countered through appeals to restore the constitutional powers of States. However, history tells us that such calls may not amount to much in the absence of regional political assertion.
• Constitutional powers including fiscal relations are inherently biased towards the Centre.
• Vesting of all residuary powers with the Centre and giving overruling powers to the Centre on matters in the Concurrent list are the primary sources of this bias.
• What is seldom recognised is that the degree of federalism in India has depended largely on two variables: the nature of political coalitions at the Centre and role of States in such coalitions (the period 1996 to 2014 for example), and the cultural diversity of regions.
• Hence, what is needed is a federal coalition that looks beyond the legal-constitutional aspects of federalism to preserve the idea of a plural India in terms of both culture and politics.

Question: –

The financially stretched state governments stare at a massive expenditure for the Covid vaccination drive as the second wave of the pandemic sweeps the country, claiming the lives and livelihoods of millions. The raging pandemic has left in its wake a severe shortage of vaccines, medicines and oxygen.