Centre-State & Inter-State relations

Centre-State relations are the constitutional arrangements through which the Union and the States share law-making, administration, revenue, security duties and dispute-resolution space.

• Starting point: Article 1 describes India as a Union of States; this matters because States are constitutionally recognised units, not mere administrative departments of the Union.
• Core location: Part XI covers relations between the Union and the States. Articles 245-255 deal mainly with legislative relations; Articles 256-263 deal mainly with administrative coordination, directions and the Inter-State Council.
• Financial layer: Part XII adds Articles 268-293 on distribution of revenues, grants, borrowing and financial procedure; Finance Commission provisions in Articles 280-281 are central to fiscal federalism.
• Subject division: The Seventh Schedule distributes subjects through the Union List, State List and Concurrent List. The Union List has defence, foreign affairs, atomic energy, railways, banking, currency and many national subjects. The State List covers public order, police, public health, agriculture, local government and intra-state trade. The Concurrent List covers criminal law, education, forests, labour welfare, marriage, bankruptcy and several shared fields.
• UPSC focus: Questions rarely ask the slogan of cooperative federalism. They ask whether Parliament can legislate for a State subject during national interest, emergency, state request or treaty implementation; whether State law survives repugnancy; and whether a federal body is constitutional, statutory or executive.
• Conceptual balance: India is federal in distribution of powers but has strong unitary features: single Constitution, single citizenship, integrated judiciary, emergency powers, all-India services and residuary powers with Parliament.
• Practical reading rule: Do not study Centre-State relations as only conflict. The Constitution creates command provisions, consultation forums, fiscal transfers, adjudicatory mechanisms and political negotiation channels together.
• Prelims trap: Inter-State relations are not only river disputes. They include Article 263 coordination, Zonal Councils under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, inter-state trade freedom under Articles 301-307, and statutory councils for sectoral cooperation.