Strengthen Federal Mechanism

Omkar Dattatray

Indian state is federal in structure but unitary in character and this mechanism needs to be strengthened for the good of the country and its federal structure and democracy.
Thus no action should be taken to weaken the federal s political system of the country but rather it needs to be strengthened in the interest of the country.
But at the same time the union of India should not be weakened and any step in this direction is bound to weaken the unitary structure and spirit of the constitution and hence a balance should always be maintained in the interest of the country and for strengthening the centre -state and union territory relations.
Therefore both the federal structure and the unitary spirit of the federation should be strengthened so that there is no conflict between the union government and the state governments.
There should always be cordial relations between the centre and the states and the union territories and for this all the stakeholders should strive for the amicable relations between the centre and the states so that the wishes of the founding fathers of the constitution are translated into reality. Thus no such step should be taken which will weaken either the Union of India or its federal structure.
So there is need for maintaining balance of powers between the centre and the states and this balance should not be disturbed in the mutual interest of the centre -state relations.
The political executives of both the union of India and its states should not be stumbling blocks in the federal mechanism of the centre-state relations but should be facilitators in the extension of the federal relations.
So for as the relations between Jammu and Kashmir and the union government are concerned ,these are also based on the principle of the federation and thus these relations and the federal setup should not be disturbed.
The Parliament of the country has abrogated the controversial Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and has downgraded the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories by passing the historical resolutions in this regard on 5th of August 2019.
This arrangement and the abrogation of the Article 370 is perceived by the Kashmir centric mainstream political parties as an assault on the federal structure of the erstwhile state.
There is substance and truth in this assertion of the Kashmir based political parties.
But at the same time the fact should not be overlooked that there were and are compulsions in the smooth relations between the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and the union of India and therefore it was in the interest of the country to abrogate the Article 370 and bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. There were peculiar conditions and circumstances in the Jammu and Kashmir which forced the central government to take the extreme decisions in the interest of the country.
The Prime Minister of the country and the Home Minister Amit Shah have told umpteen times that the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will be restored at the appropriate time when the conditions will be become conducive and normal.
Therefore the political parties and the political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir should realize and understand it that the Centre is going to restore the statehood to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir once the situation becomes normal.
Thus the politicians of Jammu and Kashmir and its political parties should play their role in normalizing the situations in the disturbed erstwhile state so that the statehood is restored at the earliest to assuage the hurt sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Therefore if the politicians of Jammu and Kashmir are really interested in the early restoration of the statehood they should tighten their belts and work sincerely so that the situation becomes normal so that the statehood is restored and the federal structure is strengthened in the interest of the centre state relations.
There should be balance of powers between the centre and the states or the union territories and neither the union nor the state should be given overriding powers to disturb the federal mechanism of the centre state relations.
Therefore there is need to strive for the strengthening of the centre state relations so that the federal structure of the country is strengthened and the centre and the states of the Indian federation will work in coordination for political stability and economic and social development. So without wasting the precious time all the stakeholders should contribute towards cordial and amicable relations between the union of India and its federating units so that the experimentation of the federal mechanism will be successful in the country and both the union of India and the state governments will work in unison to usher in the fruits of the electoral democracy so that the frictions and disputes between the centre government and the state governments will be minimum.
There should be unity of purpose between the centre government and the federating units so that the two will work in the same direction and they will not work at logger heads.
Thus both the centre and the state governments should work in tandem so that the fruits of the federal structure and federal mechanism reach the people and the doctrine of federation will become successful at the end for the good of the union state relations. Therefore the political executives of the centre and the states should work and strive for strengthening the federal structure so that the centre and the states work in same direction in the interest of the state centre relations and the fruits of development reach the people who are the supreme sovereigns in the country. Thus the federal structure of the Indian federation should not be weakened for flourishing of the federal democracy and all concerned should work to strengthen the federal structure of the country. For this it is necessary not to do anything to weaken the centre state relations for the interest of both the centre government and state governments.
Coming back to the relations between the centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government, it is important to review the centre state relations so that the federal setup is strengthened for the good of the country.
So nothing should be done to weaken the centre state relations between the Jammu and Kashmir and the union of India and if anything has been done in this regard in the past it should be rectified in due course of time for furthering the relations of Jammu and Kashmir and the centre government.
For the successful implementation of the centre schemes there should be unity of direction and unity of purpose so that the schemes of centre are implemented so that the goals of the political ,and economic development will be achieved at the earliest.
All centre state frictions and disputes should be kept at bay for the good of the centre state relations and for the strength of the doctrine of federalism otherwise the federal experimentation will not be successful.
Therefore the centre government and the federal government of Jammu and Kashmir should not work in variance but should work in unison for the strength of the federal system.
The politicians of Kashmir are time and again raising voices for the strengthening the federal system and structure of the centre state relations.
The other day when some powers were given to centre to transfer on deputation the IAS and IPS officers, much noise was made by the Kashmir centric and mainstream political party of national conference.
Omer Abdullah the former chief minister and the current vice president of NC has said that the so called overriding powers to the centre of transferring the IAS and IPS officers on deputation is the last nail in the coffin of the federal structure of Jammu and Kashmir.
The NC leaders should appreciate the fact that the situations are not congenial and normal and hence such powers to centre should not raise the eye brows of the vested politicians.
Anyway there is need for a proper balance of powers between the centre and the state governments for strengthening and flourishing of the federal structure and mechanism of the country.
(The author is retired education
officer and columnist).