SSC
Who described the Indian Constitution as 'quasi-federal'?
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Answer: Option D — K.C. Wheare
Detailed Solution
Wheare. Kenneth Clinton Wheare was an Australian-born political scientist and an authority on federal governments. He described the Indian Constitution as "quasi-federal", meaning a federation with strong unitary features, or "a unitary state with subsidiary federal features rather than a federal state with subsidiary unitary features".
The Indian Constitution does not use the word "federation". Article 1 describes India as a "Union of States". Dr B.R. Ambedkar explained that this was deliberate: the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement among states, as in the USA, and the states have no right to secede from it.
Federal features of the Indian Constitution:
- Two sets of government: the Union and the states.
- Division of powers through the Union, State and Concurrent Lists in the Seventh Schedule.
- A written and rigid Constitution, with supremacy of the Constitution.
- An independent judiciary, with the Supreme Court settling disputes between the Centre and states.
- Bicameral Parliament, with the Rajya Sabha representing the states.
Unitary (non-federal) features:
- A strong Centre, with more subjects in the Union List and residuary powers.
- Single citizenship.
- A single, integrated judiciary.
- All India Services, such as the IAS and IPS.
- Appointment of Governors by the Centre.
- Emergency provisions, under which the federal system can become unitary.
- Parliament's power to change the boundaries of states (Article 3).
- Integrated audit (CAG) and election machinery.
Other descriptions of the Indian federation:
- Granville Austin: "cooperative federalism".
- Morris Jones: "bargaining federalism".
- Ivor Jennings: "a federation with a strong centralising tendency".
D.D. Basu: "neither purely federal nor purely unitary".
The Supreme Court, in the S.R. Bommai case (1994), held that federalism is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Granville Austin described it as "cooperative federalism" and called the Constitution "a social document".
- ✗Ivor Jennings called it "a federation with a strong centralising tendency".
- ✗Morris Jones called it "bargaining federalism".
Quick tip
Remember: Quasi-federal = K.C. Wheare; cooperative federalism = Granville Austin; bargaining federalism = Morris Jones; strong centralising tendency = Ivor Jennings; "Union of States" = Article 1.
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Preamble & Salient Features — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Preamble & Salient Features, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, the meaning of its key words (sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity), and the salient features of the Constitution, such as its federal structure with a unitary bias and the parliamentary form of government. Remember that the words 'socialist', 'secular' and 'integrity' were added by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, the only time the Preamble has been amended. Questions also test landmark cases on the Preamble: the Supreme Court held in the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) that the Preamble is part of the Constitution. Practise the Preamble and salient features questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.