Federalism in India

The concept of India as an entity is of relatively recent origin. The sub-continent was a conglomeration of independent states large and small, until the Mauryas consolidated by conquest the northern states into an empire about 300 BC. The South remained however outside the pale of 'Aryavarta', the land of the Aryans. Since then, there have been phases of integration and dis-integration and rise and fall of empires until the advent of the Moghuls in more recent times. The image of India took shape by these conquests and consolidations. It became sharper when the British subjugated the hitherto unconquered South. Thus, the territories of India on the eve of partition extended from the Himalayas in the north to Cape Comorin in the south.

Inherent in the process of consolidation, was the need for concentration of power in a central authority. The very survival of the ruling dynasty depended on this centralization of authority and its concentration in a chosen and trusted few. Even otherwise, this was necessary to hold in check fissiparous regional tendencies which racial, cultural and religious dis similarities inevitably generated. The Indian Constitution bears the impress of this philosophy of centralization as a logical. corollary to the historical evolution of the Indian administra tive system, and as being in harmony with the way of life of her people.