Federal Political Culture in India: a Public Perceptionia: Federalism

Federalism for more than six decades has provided the Indian electorates as how to live together even as they maintain their diversities. Though federalism doesn?t and cannot provide a panacea to every political entity, however healthy democracy seems to demand the adoption or maintenance of an effective federal system. However It appears that there is a correlation between the federal structure and the federal attitude of the country. Indian constitution envisages a federal mode of organization. The process of the evolution of Indian Federalism has been influenced by the interplay between the original constitutional design and changing political practices notably the relations between parties in power at different levels of government structure, rise of regional parties, end of one party dominant era and the judicial interpretation of the constitution. The present study is the only empirical study ever conducted to capture the public perception on the emerging issues of Indian federalism in general and federal political culture and structure of India in particular. The Study ha s the backup of a database comprising of 500 respondents covered in 5states in different regions of India