Understanding Social Science

  Federalism    Today, India is an amalgamation of various small states and union territories. This is not what ‘British India’ was. In the colonial period, India was divided into princely states (controlled by prices/kings who had autonomy over their territory) such as Hyderabad, Manipur etc and British provinces (under British administration) such as Bombay, Madras etc. After independence, it was left up to leaders of princely states whether they want to merge with India, Pakistan or remain Independent. But most of the states could be merged through negotiations and dialogue and India, as we know it today was formed. Federal structure of Indian state must be appreciated for this unity along with efforts of leaders such as Sardar Patel.          What is federalism? Federalism in its simplest form is described as a system where a territory is governed by two levels of government. Although different civilizations use different notion o...