Trace and analyse the co-operative trends in Indian federalism. (1994)
Cooperative federalism treats the Union and the states as interdependent orders. Granville Austin (The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, 1966) read the Constitution this way. What has changed since is where cooperation happens and on whose terms, each shift following a change in the party system or political economy.
Phases of the cooperative trend
| Phase | Form of cooperation | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1946–50 | Designed into the text | Partition, integration |
| 1950–67 | By party hierarchy | Congress dominance, planning |
| 1967–89 | Strained, then redefined | Non-Congress states |
| 1989–2014 | By bargaining | Coalitions, liberalisation |
| 2014–26 | Institutional, “competitive” | Majority, GST, coalition again |
Design (1946–50). The framers built interdependence into the text: the Concurrent List, Arts 256–258, the All India Services, the Finance Commission (Art. 280) and an Inter-State Council (Art. 263). B. R. Ambedkar defended a Constitution that could be “both unitary as well as federal according to the requirements of time and circumstances”.
The Congress system (1950–67). The Planning Commission (1950), the National Development Council (1952) and the Zonal Councils (1956) were the forums. But, as Rajni Kothari‘s Congress system shows, real bargaining happened inside one party, so the formal machinery was seldom needed and no Inter-State Council existed.
Strain and redefinition (1967–89). With non-Congress state governments, disputes moved from the party into intergovernmental relations. Article 356 and the 42nd Amendment pulled towards centralisation. Two things pushed back:
- The Gadgil formula (1969) made plan assistance rule-based.
- The Rajamannar Committee, the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and the West Bengal memorandum forced the Sarkaria Commission (1983–88). It redefined federalism as a functional arrangement for cooperative action.
Bargaining federalism (1989–2014). Coalitions made regional parties pivotal, and W. H. Morris-Jones‘s bargaining federalism became daily practice:
- The Inter-State Council was finally constituted (1990).
- S. R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) made Art. 356 costly to use.
- After 1991, states competed for investment.
- The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers negotiated VAT, a rehearsal for pooled tax sovereignty.
Institutionalised cooperation (2014–26).
- NITI Aayog (2015) replaced the Planning Commission. Its Governing Council of Chief Ministers drew all 28 at its eleventh meeting (June 2026).
- The GST Council (Art. 279A), India’s first co-decisional federal body, carried out GST 2.0 in September 2025; Union of India v. Mohit Minerals (2022) treats its work as dialogue, not command.
- The Zonal Councils have revived: about 28 meetings against 11 in the decade before, with roughly 83% of issues resolved.
Analysis
M. P. Singh‘s two axes explain the pattern. The parliamentary axis (single-party majority) yields cooperation on the centre’s terms; the federal axis (coalition) yields cooperation by negotiation, which the 2024 mandate has partly restored. The counter-trend is fiscal:
- Cesses have cut the divisible pool to about 81% of gross tax revenue.
- The Sixteenth Finance Commission (2026) held vertical devolution at 41%.
- The Inter-State Council has not met since 2016.
Conclusion
India’s cooperative trend has moved from party-mediated to institution-mediated cooperation. It is real but uneven. Outside the GST Council, shared institutions still consult rather than co-decide, so the political arithmetic in Delhi still sets how much cooperation there is.