IIPA ORGANISES LECTURE ON “TRENDS IN CENTRE- STATE RELATIONS”

The J&K Regional Branch of Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) organised a lecture at Jammu on the ‘Trends in Centre-state relations’. The lecture was delivered by Prof RekhaChowdhary, ICSSR National Fellow. Dr. Ashok Bhan, the Chairman of the Regional Branch presided over the lecture. This was a prelude conference on the theme chosen by the IIPA for Annual Members Conference being held later this month at New Delhi.
In her lecture, Prof RekhaChowdhary gave a brief introduction to the constitutional provisions related to Centre –State relations and discussed the reasons for a centralised federal structure as it was adopted in the Indian Constitution. Besides the constitutional provisions, it was the nature of political processes, particularly the nature of the party system which further resulted in tilting the balance of power in favour of the Centre.
It was in the post-1989 period that there was a shift in the nature of centre-state relations, said the speaker.  What significantly contributed to this change was the change in the party system. The one party dominant system was replaced by the multiparty system giving rise to the emergence of coalition politics in the centre and led to increasing significance of the regional parties and leadership. Also there was a change in the economic system from a regimented and regulated economy to the liberalised economy which resulted in greater economic initiative to the states.
According to Prof Rekha, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments meanwhile resulted in creating a third tier to the federal system of India by dividing powers between the states and the Panchayats. In her concluding remarks, She argued that 2014 Parliamentary elections which resulted in an  end atleast for some time to the era of coalition politics at the level of the Central government, there is bound to be some change in the Centre-state relations.
The lecture was followed by a lively question-answer session.  Following the discussion Dr. Ashok Bhan delivered his presidential address in which he highlighted the problems related to security and foreign policy issues due to the pressures coming from the state level leadership. He cited the example of the intervention of West Bengal Chief Minister on the issue of Teesta water agreement and that of Tamil Nadu leadership on the issue of CHOGM meeting. He also explained as to how the opposition coming from various state governments stalled the very much needed National Counter-Terrorism Centre.
In his opinion, the 2014 mandate was for a strong Centre and one could hope that the issues related to foreign policy and security would be effectively dealt with by the Centre without undue pressure from the states. Though he also cautioned that over-centralisation was not a desired for all matters.
The lecture was conducted ably by Dr. Komal Nagar, Jt Director Seminars. The vote of thanks was delivered by Prof Alka Sharma, Director Seminars. The lecture was organised under the supervision of Er JBS Johar, Hony Secretary.