When Dr. B.R. Ambedkar introduced the draft Constitution in the Constituent Assembly in 1948, he spoke of introducing a dual polity, consisting of “the Union at the Centre and the States at the periphery each endowed with sovereign powers to be exercised in the field assigned to them respectively by the Constitution.”
He underlined the deliberate attempt of its makers to describe India as a Union of States and not a federation, an attempt reflected in Article 1 of the Constitution.
India’s states are a mosaic— of conflicting ethnicities, religions, languages, political aspirations and socio-economic handicaps. When the nation came into being, the quasi-federal structure was adopted to both allow for the preservation of unique regional identities and to ensure the continuance of the nation as a harmonious whole, with a strong Centre.
