(a) Does the actual working of Indian federalism conform to the centralizing tendencies in Indian polity? Give reasons for your…

The Indian constitutional framework envisions a dynamic democratic architecture balancing national unity, responsible citizenship, and socio-economic emancipation.

Working of Federalism and Centralizing Tendencies

The Constitution contains structural centralizing features, such as Article 3 (unilateral territorial reorganization), Article 356 and Article 365 (President’s Rule and non-compliance directions), and Article 368 (under which Parliament can amend most of the Constitution without the states, whose ratification is needed only for specified federal provisions), along with emergency powers and the single integrated civil services - features that led K.C. Wheare to call India "quasi-federal". These stand in contrast to federal features like a bicameral legislature, division of powers under the Seventh Schedule, and an independent judiciary.

Empirically, the working of Indian federalism has oscillated between centralist dominance and what W.H. Morris-Jones called "bargaining federalism": one-party dominance and planning centralised power until the 1960s, the coalition era after 1989 strengthened regional parties, and single-party majorities since 2014 have again tilted the balance towards the Centre. Historically, the frequent invocation of Article 356 reflected strong centralizing impulses, which were substantially curbed by the Supreme Court’s S.R. Bommai (1994) ruling establishing judicial review over presidential proclamations. In recent years, fiscal federalism has faced centralizing pressures through the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which curtailed states' independent indirect taxation powers, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the Centre centralized executive directions under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Conversely, institutions like the GST Council, NITI Aayog, and increased tax devolution under successive Finance Commissions reflect elements of cooperative federalism. The Inter-State Council was set up in 1990, and both the Sarkaria Commission (1988) and the Punchhi Commission (2010) emphasized institutionalizing the Inter-State Council and reforming the discretionary powers of Governors to safeguard state autonomy within a strong Union.

Fundamental Duties and Civic Responsibility

Incorporated into Part IVA (Article 51A) via the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act (1976) following the Swaran Singh Committee’s recommendations, Fundamental Duties seek to foster an active, ethically conscious citizenry. Ten duties were added in 1976, and an eleventh - the duty of parents to provide opportunities for education to children aged six to fourteen, Article 51A(k) - by the 86th Amendment in 2002. These duties demarcate moral obligations, such as cherishing the noble ideals of the freedom struggle, from civic duties, such as respecting the National Flag, the Constitution, and public property.

Rather than remaining mere rhetoric, Fundamental Duties function as a normative counterbalance to Fundamental Rights, reminding citizens that rights cannot exist in a vacuum of social anarchy. The Justice J.S. Verma Committee (1999) identified existing legal provisions that enforce key duties, emphasizing operationalization through statutory mechanisms. Today, cultivating scientific temper (Article 51A(h)) and protecting the environment, forests, and wildlife (Article 51A(g)) serve as vital civic responsibilities against obscurantism, intolerance, and ecological crisis, shifting the citizen's status from a passive recipient of state patronage to an active co-creator of constitutional order.

Ambedkar’s Clarion Call and Dalit Emancipation

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s call to "Educate, Agitate and Organize", made in his closing words to the Depressed Classes conference at Nagpur in July 1942 that founded the Scheduled Castes Federation, provided a structural strategy for the Dalit movement to secure civil liberty, self-respect, and substantive democracy. Education came first because, as Annihilation of Caste (1936) argued, caste rests on the religious sanction of the Shastras and on ignorance; Ambedkar acted on this by founding the People's Education Society (1945) and Siddharth College, Bombay (1946). Agitation represented a non-violent, conscious assertion of rights against structural humiliation, while organization forged collective solidarity against fragmented socio-political identities. Later, in The Buddha and His Dhamma, this strategy culminated in a moral quest for liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Ambedkar operationalized this strategy politically by establishing the Scheduled Castes Federation and through the mass conversion to Buddhism in 1956, asserting that spiritual and social emancipation must precede political freedom. This three-pronged ethos continues across modern Dalit mobilization, visible in the radical cultural agitation of the Dalit Panthers (founded 1972), the electoral organization led by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and contemporary student assertions such as the Rohith Vemula movement.

Way Forward

Sustaining the vitality of the Indian Republic requires institutionalizing the recommendations of the Punchhi Commission on cooperative federalism, embedding the Verma Committee’s civic education frameworks to bridge the gap between rights and duties, and realizing Ambedkar’s vision by dismantling social hierarchies, thereby ensuring that political democracy translates into enduring social and economic democracy.