The Emerging Trends in Centre-State Relations

Abstract

It is said that old era of centralized federal system in India is over now and today it has turned into operative federalism where the role of State Governments cannot be underestimated. However, the basic concept of centralized federalism emerged in Nehru era and furthermore during the time of Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi; but after the formation of Janta Party Government in 1977, a due emphasis was given on cooperative federal relations. In this sequence, a commission on federal relations was constituted in 1983 which submitted its report in 1987. It had total 247 recommendations known as Sarkaria Commission. However some of the important recommendations were not implemented in the consequent years and a new commission on federal relations was constituted and it was known as Punchhi Commission, which submitted its report with more than 350 recommendations. Moreover, it repeated most of the recommendations made by Sarkaria Commission and it emphasized on cooperative federalism. Therefore, after the formation of BJP Government in 2014, this is an important federal trend in federal relations. The present research paper highlights the emerging trends in federal relations in India.