Federal System

Federal

Unitary

India, Russia, US, Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Argentina, Australia

China, Japan, UK, France, Italy, Sweden, Spain

Written constitution

Supremacy of constitution

Rigid Constitution

Dual Govt (national/federal/union and state(US)/provincial(Canada)/cantons(Switzerland)/republics(Russia))

Independent Judiciary [NOTE: NOT INTEGRATED]

Bicameral Legislature

Division of powers b/w national and regional govts

Written/Unwritten constitution

Supreme/Not supreme

Rigid/flexible

Single govt (regional govts may be created by national)

May/May not be independent

May be bicameral/unicameral

No division of powers

Unitary features in Indian Constitution:

Strong Centre, States destructible, Single constitution, Single citizenship, Flexible constitution, No equality in state representation, emergency provisions, integrated judiciary, integrated audit machinery, integrated election machinery, All India services, Parliament authority over State bills, Presidential veto over certain state bills, appointment of Governor

Bridge for Centre-State and Inter-State relations

Inter State Councils (plural) - constitutional - 263
Zonal Councils - Statutory & North Eastern Council - Statutory
Governors' conference presided by President
Chief Ministers conference presided by PM
Home Ministers conference presided by Union Home Minister
Chief Justices conference presided by CJI
Conference of Vice Chancellors (Minister of HRD?)
Chief Secretaries Conference presided by Cabinet Secretary
Conference of Inspector General of Police
NITI Ayog General Council
Full faith and credit is to be given to all public acts(legislative and executive), records and state

Zonal Councils

Statutory bodies established under States Reorganisation Act 1956

Deliberate and advisory bodies
There are 5 five Zonal councils namely:

The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, HP, J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan, NCR and UT Chandigarh.

The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal.
The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

**The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Meghalaya (vii) Sikkim and (viii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972

Composition:

Chairman – < pan style='font-weight:bold;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt'>Union Home Minister
Vice Chairman – The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
Members- Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
Advisers- One person nominated by the NITI Ayog for each of the Zonal Councils, Chief Secretaries and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone.
Union Ministers are also invited to participate in the meetings of Zonal Councils depending upon necessity

Objectives

Bringing out national integration.
Arresting the growth of acute State consciousness, regionalism, linguism and particularistic tendencies.
Enabling the Centre and the States to co-operate and exchange ideas and experiences.
Establishing a climate of co-operation amongst the States for successful and speedy execution of development projects.

General