INDIA’S FEDERAL SETUP: A Journey Through Seven Decades

Description

“At a time when Indian federalism is facing unprecedented pressure, it is more crucial than ever to understand how we arrived at this moment. R. Mohan’s India’s Federal Setup draws on extensive research to present a history of the federal system, tracking the evolution of politics and consitutional thinking from the years before independence to the present day. An important and timely analysis.” – Shashi Tharoor

“There is now, no doubt, a crying need to re-envision the relationships between the Centre and the States, in the interests of democracy and governance as well as of national unity. Mohan provides his readers with an excellent historical analysis that explains how and why these relationships have developed in the way they have, while carrying implications for their re-envisioning.” – John Harriss, Professor Emeritus of International Studies, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver

The book looks at the course travelled by the Indian polity in the post-independence period, by analysing the dominance of a single party. emergence of coalition governments at the State- level and later at the all-India level, relations between tiers of governments, accommodative and conflicting stances in the relations of the governments and the party system, instances of judicial intervention, movements in the public sphere, issues in the fiscal and economic arenas and the political actions of constitutional authorities, especially the Governors. The shifts in the support bases of the political parties and the emerging interests of the dominant social classes are also discussed. Based on these analyses. certain questions about our polity are attempted to be answered.

R.Mohan earlier worked with Reserve Bank of India and Indian Revenue Service. Voluntarily took retirement while serving as Commissioner of Income Tax. Has been a freelancer and columnist. Published many research articles and is the co- author of the book ‘Challenges to Indian Fiscal Federalism’(2018). Has been associated with Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, as a Visiting Fellow. Wife H.Poornima, Son, M.Prashant Krishnan.