DR. KAMALAXI G.TADASADASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GOVERNMENT FIRST GRADE

COLLEGE, SHIGGAON.20.11.2010

 • INDIA IS TODAY UNDERGOING A COMPLEX AND TORTUOUS POLITICAL TRANSITION. THE DEMISE OF THE ONE PARTY DOMINANCE SYSTEM HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO AN ERA OF COALITIONS.

 • THESE TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESSES OF A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT LEAD TO THE FORMATION OF COALITION.

  

• COALITION THUS REFERS TO A COMBINATION OF POLITICAL GROUPS, TEMPORARY IN NATURE AND FOR SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES.

• IT IS ALSO GENERALLY ACCEPTED THAT A COALITION CAN TAKE PLACE ONLY WITHIN THE CONTEXTS OF MIXED MOTIVE IN WHICH BOTH CONFLICT AND COMMON INTEREST ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY PRESENT AND MUST GOVERN THE COURSE OF ACTION CHOSEN.

•   

• INDIA’S EXPERIENCE AS ARGUABLY THE MOST DIVERSE SOCIETY IN THE WORLD AND HER ATTEMPT TO WRESTLE WITH TENSIONS BETWEEN CENTRALIZING AND DECENTRALIZING TENDENCIES IS REFLECTED IN OUR EXPERIMENT IN COALITION GOVERNMENT.

 • THE TENTATIVE EXPERIMENT IN COALITION GOVERNMENT, SPECIFICALLY AT THE CENTRE, HAS EVOKED MIXED RESPONSES RANGING FROM EXTREME SKEPTICISM TO POST FACTO ADMIRATION AND ACCEPTANCE.

 • THERE HAVE BEEN A PLETHORA OF SCHOLARLY ARTICLES FROM SENIOR POLITICIANS, JOURNALISTS AND EVEN CONSTITUTIONAL EXPERTS ABOUT THE INEVITABILITY OF THE ARRIVAL OF COALITION POLITICS IN THE WORKING OF OUR DEMOCRACY.

◦IN INDIA NO DISCUSSION ON COALITION AND FEDERAL POLITICS CAN BE READ AND UNDERSTOOD ONLY FROM THE INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF STATE, CENTRAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

◦IT MUST IN MY OPINION BE UNDERSTOOD THOROUGHLY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DEMANDS BY RELIGIOUS, CULTURAL OR ETHNIC GROUPS FOR GREATER AUTONOMY.

• IN THE RECENT PAST THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE OF THESE KINDS OF PULLS AND PRESSURES VIS-À-VIS THEIR IDENTITY IN INDIA. IN THE CONTEXT OF MULTICULTURAL ARID MULTIETHNIC SOCIETIES LIKE INDIA, THERE IS AN URGENT NEED INFACT, TO THINK AFRESH ABOUT THE APPROACHES TO STRUCTURES OF GOVERNANCE.

• A COALITION GOVERNMENT NEED NOT NECESSARILY LEAD TO INSTABILITY OR DISCONTINUITY IN POLICIES, NOR CAN THEY BE CALLED INEFFECTIVE OR LESS PURPOSIVE.

• THE COALITION GOVERNMENT IN KERALA AND WEST BENGAL HAD MANY ACHIEVEMENTS TO ITS CREDIT, THE MOST IMPORTANT BEING LAND REFORMS.

• TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES HAVE LED TO TREMENDOUS IMPROVEMENT IN CONNECTIVITY AND ACCESSIBILITY.

• ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL NATURE LIKE CLIMATE CHANGE DO NOT RECOGNIZE STATE FRONTIERS.

• DISASTER MANAGEMENT TRANSCENDS INTER-STATE BOUNDARIES. GLOBALISATION HAS REINFORCED THE NEED FOR CONCURRENCE BETWEEN THE GEOGRAPHICAL, CLIMATIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DIVERSITIES INTER AS WELL AS INTRA STATES SO THAT THEY MAY LINK WITH GLOBAL PROCESSES FOR VIABLE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH.

• WHAT IS BEING EXPERIENCED AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL IS ALSO BEING FELT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.

• THE STATES TODAY HAVE ACQUIRED SUFFICIENT POLITICAL WEIGHT OF THEIR OWN THROUGH A PLURALIZED PARTY SYSTEM ENABLING INDIVIDUAL STATES TO EMBARK ONTO BILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS.

• HOWEVER, THE SAME MUST BE TAKEN WITH A PINCH OF SALT BECAUSE POWER SHARING BY STATES AT THE CENTRAL LEVEL HAS NOT CONTRIBUTED TOWARDS REDUCING LOCALISM, PAROCHIALISM AND CHAUVINISM OF REGIONALISTS AND SUB-REGIONAL PARTIES.

• INCREASE IN BARGAINING CAPACITY WILL SERVE TO STRENGTHEN COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM ONLY IF THE SUPPOSED DRAWBACKS OF CENTRALISM ARE MITIGATED THROUGH IT.

• THE INCREASING VOICES OF AUTONOMY AND SEPARATISM HAVE VITIATED THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL FABRIC OF THE FEDERAL STRUCTURE.

• STATES ARE INCREASINGLY HARBORING FEELINGS OF DEPRIVATION AND ALIENATION AND HAVE BEGUN VIEWING ALL PROBLEMS FROM A NARROW PAROCHIAL OUTLOOK. MOREOVER, THEIR APPROACH IS BECOMING VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONIST.

• TERRORISM, MILITANCY, ORGANISED CRIMES, PROBLEM OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS, REFUGEES – ALL THESE REQUIRE THAT THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE COMES TOGETHER AND THE INSTITUTIONAL BODIES UNDER STATE GOVERNMENTS HELP THE CENTRE BY COLLECTIVELY MAKING AVAILABLE THE NECESSARY INFORMATION AND RESOURCES.

• THE NEED TO COME TOGETHER TODAY IS NOT ONLY THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE NEW CHALLENGES FACING THE NATION BUT THAT THE SAME WILL SERVE AS AN ANTIDOTE TO PREVENT SUCH CHALLENGES FROM RECURRING IN FUTURE.

• THE RELATION BETWEEN THE CENTRE, THE STATES AND THE LOCAL TIERS LIES AT THE HEART OF INDIA’S SENSE OF NATIONHOOD AND IS THE PRE REQUISITE FOR INDIA’S PROGRESS.

• EVERY CENTRE-STATE AND EVERY INTER-STATE DISPUTE IS AT ITS HEART, A POLITICAL DISPUTE.

• THIS IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEMATIC NATURE OF CENTRE STATE RELATIONS AND THIS IS TRUE EVEN WHEN THERE IS A COALITION GOVERNMENT.

• SUCH DISPUTES WHEN LEFT UNATTENDED SLOWLY RIPENS INTO AN ECONOMIC ONE. BAD POLITICS LEADS TO BAD ECONOMICS.

• UNLESS STAGNATION IN THE ECONOMIC FIELD AND UNBALANCED REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARE NOT ADDRESSED, INTEGRATION AND SOLIDARITY IN THE FEDERAL SET UP BE IN THE COALITION OR OTHERWISE WILL NOT BE COMPLETE.

• In the famous words of Justice Nani Palkhivala - WHO DIES IF INDIA LIVES AND WHO LIVES IF INDIA DIES..... PEOPLE OF SEVERAL STATES SINK OR SWIM TOGETHER, AND THAT IN THE LONG RUN, PROSPERITY AND SALVATION ARE IN INNOVATION AND NOT IN DIVISION; MUTUALITY AND NOT CONFLICT; COOPERATION AND NOT COMPETITION SHALL BE THE ESSENCE OF CAOLITION POLITICS (STRESS ADDED).

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL.