Legislature - The Parliament of India is headed by the President and constitutes the two Houses, known as Rajya Sabha

or Upper House (Council of States) and Lok Sabha or Lower House (House of the People).

Executive - Consists of the President heading the Republic of India, Vice-President and Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister.

Judiciary - The Apex Judiciary body in the country is the Supreme Court followed by the High Courts of the state. The Judiciary is independent of the executive.

The executive power of the union shall be vested in the president and shall be exercised by him. The President is the supreme commander of all the 3 wings of the defense forces.

However the real executive powers rest with the Prime Minister.
The Cabinet is a group of senior ministers who form the nucleus of the administration.

This is the law making body of the Union government. The legislature oversees the working of the administration. The legislature passes the Annual Financial Statement for the country. It has the power to approve or remove members of the council of ministers.

It has the power of delimitation of state and union territory boundaries.

Making laws in the state and concurrent list. Pass state budget, money bill(Legislative Assembly) Participation in election of president and representation of states in the parliament.

Governor is the symbolic head of the state government. Exercises legislative, executive, financial and judicial powers. CM is the real executive head. Link between the Governor and the council of ministers. Chairman of the cabinet.

Relevance Article 256 & Article 246 Concurrent list Powers exercised by the Union over the State Dual government.

Directives by the union to the state governments: The executive power of the union is under Article 256. The union can invoke Article 356 in case of non-comliance of the directives. Delegation of union functions to the states: Under Article 254 the President with the consent of the state government entrust either conditionally or unconditionally to the government, functions relating to any matter falling within the ambit of union executive power.

All India Services: The can suspend the officials of All India Services. Appointment and taking disciplinary action against them vests only with the President of India. Deployment of Military and Para-military Forces: These can be deployed even against the wishes of the state government. Constitution of Joint Public Service Commission for Two or more States: When two or more states through a resolution to that effect, the Parliament may by law, provide for a joint commission.

Judicial System: The Chief Justice of the High Court is appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the State.

Inter-State Council: The Constitution provides intergovernmental co-operation, effective consultations between the centre and states so that national policies are arrived at through dialogue, discussion and consensus. Three such councils have been set up (i) Central Council of Health; (ii) Central Council of Local Self-Government; (iii) Transport Development Council.

eg. Sarkaria Commission's recommendations- A permanent Inter-State Council has been created on I April 1990.

So we can say that the relation between Union and States is the foundation of the Indian Federal system. The centre has been given some administrative powers over the states for effective co-ordination. It is the responsibility of the States to ensure compliance of Union laws within their territory. The power to settle disputes between states relating to distribution of waters of inter-state rivers lies with the Union. So we can say that the Union and states have independent executive staffs fully controlled by respected governments and executive power of the states and the Centre are extended on issues they are empowered to legislate.

Derived from the Government of India Act, 1935. The areas of taxation have been clearly demarcated between the centre and states. Division of financial powers and functions among different levels of the federal polity are asymmetrical, with a bias for revenue taxing powers at the Union level. 'The seventh schedule of the Constitution provides for specific entries reserved for the union and the states for imposing taxes.

Four-fold classification of tax revenues between union and states. These are: a) Levied by union but collected and appropriated by state (Article 270). b) Levied and collected by centre, but assigned to states (Article 269). c) Levied and collected by union and distributed between the union and states (Article 270). d) Levied and collected by union but may be shared with states. Grants-in-aid and Loans Centre provides grants-in-aid to states. Borrowing Powers The Constitution provides for the borrowing of money by union and state under certain provisions.

Article 280 provides for the constitution of the Finance Commission.

The Finance Commission is entrusted to recommend to the President about:(1) distribution of the proceeds of tax. (2) principles that govern the grants-in-aid out of the Consolidated Fund of India. (3) measures needed to augment the consolidated Fund of a state. (4Matter referred to by the President in the interest of sound finance.

Undergo changes during proclamation of emergency. Under Article 360, it shall be competent for the union to: I) give directions to the state on specific subjects. ii) instruct state governments to reduce the salaries and allowances of all public servants. iii) reserve all money bills and financial bills

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Set up to formulate an integrated national five year plan for economic and social development and to advise the union government. The Planning Commission has over the years extended its activities over the entire sphere of administration hence a criticism that the Planning Commission which is an extraconstitutional body, has encroached upon the autonomy of the states-in a has aroused.

The National Development Council (NDC):

Consisting of all the ministers of the Union Cabinet, the Chief Ministers of the States and the administrators of the Union Territories review the working of the five-year plan.

The National Integration Council (NIC):

Deals with welfare measures for the minorities on an allIndia basis. It comprises of Union Ministers and the Chief Ministers of States and the representatives of national and regional political parties, labour, and women.

Five Zonal Councils for Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Central were created in 1956. Each Council has the Chief Minister and two other ministers of each state in the zone and the administrator in case of a Union Territory. The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of all the zonal councils.
It advises on matters of common concern relating to economic and administrative matters, social planning, inter-state transport matters arising out of reorganisation of State.

The report was submitted in 1988 and it made 247 recommendations in this regard, suggesting 12 amendments to the Constitution and 20 new legislations. Some of them are.
The Governor of a state to be a non-political person appointed with the concurrence of the Chief Minister.

The representative state to be consulted before deployment of union armed and other forces in that State.
Sharing of the corporate taxes between the centre and state to be made mandatory.

The transfer of High Court judges should not be against their will. The state should have more control over the matters in the concurrent list and the Centre's hold over the union list should be loosened.

January 27, 2000 The Commission made as many as 248 recommendations touching on these ten areas of intensive inquiry. Out of these, only 58 involve amendment of the Constitution, 86 pertain to legislative measures and the rest require executive action.
Unfortunately, this Commission Report proved to be a damp squib.

Our Constitution makes provisions for proclamation of emergencies to enable the union government to acquire the strength of a unitary system in times of 'emergencies'.

The emergency provisions are so drastic that when the proclamation of either of the emergencies is in operation, the government is carried practically on a unitary basis and during the crisis the state governments are, in effect merely subordinate governments and function as a part of a union structure.

The failure of constitutional machinery in a state The second kind of emergency is the 'national emergency The financial emergency