Author: Rasheeduddin Khan
Editor: Rasheeduddin Khan
Publisher: Indian Institute of Advanced Study
Year: 1997
Language: English
Pages: 274
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8185952507
Description
This book broadly reflects upon macro-rubrics of Indian Federalism - quest for a new federal identity, socio-cultural pluralism and their accommodation and harmonization within federal polity and society.
In the fiftieth year of our sovereign existence as a modern state, it is critically significant for use to rethink our federal polity and plural society in order to design a ‘Federal India’ which can successfully combine ‘Federalism’ and ‘pluralism’ in the institutional framework of ‘self rule plus shared rule’. Pluralism and Federalism now appear as the two essential principles for organizing heterogeneous societies into a viable pattern of political sharing of power, by reconciling the twin process of ‘political unification’, and ‘social diversity’; of ‘commonality’ for certain purposes and specificities for others. In its praxis, federalism builds and sustains the ‘unity of polity’ and simultaneously preserves and promotes the ‘plurality of society’. It is from this perspective, and ideological premises of ‘Federal nation, participatory democracy, secularism and social justice’ that we should re-examine our federal polity and plural society.
The book broadly reflects upon the following macro rubrics of Indian Federalism-quest for a new federal identity, and recasting center-state relations in order to build a more equipoised and cooperative federal polity; social-cultural pluralism and their accommodation and harmonization within federal polity and society. In this exercise the critical relevance of secularism and composite culture has been examined; and, India being a multi-regional federation, the problems of regionalism and territorialization of federal polity have also been examined. Formulations on macro themes have been supplemented by certain micro-studies (case-studies) of specific issues concerning the problems of federal nation-building.
Contents
Introduction
Federalism in India: A Quest for New Identity
First Session: Summary of the Discussion
Towards a Federal India: A Conceptual Exploration and an Empirical Explication
Federalism in Multi-cultural Societies: Issues for Consideration
Ecology, Regional Differentiation and Cultural Synthesis: Rethinking India’s cultural Pluralism
Second Session: Summary of Discussion
Real Issues of Indian Federalism
Coordinating Pluralism: The Federal Experience in India
The Importance of Article 356 in Center-State Relations in India: A Critical Review of its Use and Misuse
Reflections on Cooperative Federalism and Its Relevance for India
Third Session: Summary of the Discussion
Fourth Session: Summary of the Discussion
Fifth Session: Summary of the Discussion
Sixth Session: Summary of the Discussion
Secular Democracy and Challenges of Communalism
Implication of the concept and Ramification of Hindutva In the Process of Federal Nation-Building
Seventh Session: Summary of the Discussion
Caste, Politics and Indian Federation
Eighth session: Summary of the Discussion
Regionalism, Alienation and Federalism
Centrifugalism in the Indian Federalism: A Sociological Study
Jharkhand Movement: Assertion of Socio-Cultural Identity and the Demand for a Separate State
Uttar Pradesh and Federal Balance in India
Ninth Session: Summary of the Discussion
Concluding Session: Summary of the Discussion
Contributors