Question

Which one of the following is the best example of the 'federation with a unitary bias'.

• A. United States of America
• B. Britain
• C. Spain
• D. India

Answer 1

The correct option is D India

Our Consitution is not merely federal in form but also unitary in spirit. some unitary features of our Constitution are as under:

i) A strong Centre: The Union Government is more powerful than the State government as it has 97 subjects under it while the state has only 67 items.

ii) A single Consitution for Union and States: The States have not been given the right to form their own Constitution. The only exception is Jammu and Kashmir which has its own Constitution (Art 370).

iii) Flexibility of the Constitution: In India, the Parliament can amend most of the provisions of the Constitution single-handedly, either by a simple majority or two-third majority.

iv) Single citizenship: Our Constitution provides for single citizenship which is common to all the people.

v) Inequality of representation in the Rajya Sabha: Our Constitution accords representation to the various States in the Rajya Sabha on the basis of their population.

vi) Existence of Union territories: We have administrative units called the Union Territories which are directly governed by the Central Government.