India follows a Federal system of government which means that power is distributed between the Centre and states. Some subject matters are given to states so that only the states can make decisions or laws and the Centre cannot interfere in those matters. This is known as the state list.
List-I
Another list is there where only the centre can make decisions or laws regarding those subject matters. The Union List or List-I consists of Defence of India, atomic energy, war, foreign affairs, extradition, piracies etc.
Currencies, taxes on income other than agricultural tax, all-India-Services, salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Chairman of Rajya Sabha also come under List-I. Article 246 of the 7th Schedule talks about lists. There are three lists: Union list, State List and Concurrent list.
The responsibilities of Central Government
The Union list contains matters on which a uniform policy will be maintained throughout the nation. These include currency, defence, reserve bank of India, foreign loans, insurance, ancient and historic monuments. The main topics that come under the responsibility of the Central government are:
- Finance : Collection of various taxes except Agricultural tax which comes under State List or List-II,maintaining the debts borrowed from other countries, Print money and maintain its value, Assess inflation and deflation of the currency
- Commerce: Look after the Export and Import trade policies amongst India and other nations, make trading easier by building new roads, ports etc., grant patents and copyrights.
- National Defence: Maintain the Army, Air Force and the Navy, be vigilant if other countries are stealing information or is somehow being a threat to privacy of citizens, declare war if necessary.
- Foreign Affairs: India has nearly 90 Embassies and more than 100 consulates placed in different parts of the world to ensure smooth conduct of treaties and relations between other countries. It is the responsibility of the central government to resolve any issues with other countries so that it does not affect the Indians residing in those countries.
National Emergency or President’s Rule
Under normal circumstances the power is distributed among Centre and states. However, during the time of a national emergency, the power of the states are taken away and all of the power goes to the central government. India follows a quasi-federal form of government. The concept of Emergency was borrowed from German constitution. There are three types of emergencies : National emergency, State emergency and Financial emergency.
National emergency can be declared if there is war, armed rebellion or external aggression. Emergency was declared three times in India, during Indo-China war in 1962, Indo-Pakistan war in 1971 and during internal disturbance emergency declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975-1977.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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