Exploring Territorial Federalism to the Centralized British Federal Model in South-Asia

Abstract

Federalism in south Asia is a contested issue in terms of its nature and origin. This article attempts to address both questions; how does nature of federalism remain before the establishment of British raj and to what extend it changed in the British era. It is recurrent debate about the origin of federalism in south Asia that weather the concept of federalism existed before the advent of Britain or it is the modern concept developed later only after the invasion of British government. Second question regarding the nature of federalism is also controversial that how the federalism has changed its form in historical different periods specially of the British period. What kind of federal model was introduced by Britain? Was it a centralized federal model or was it a decentralized model? What was the notion of shared authority in the respective domain of central and regional governments This shared notion of authority is also sought out in South Asia in the governance system of the Mauryas, Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals that is termed as territorial federalism. British government introduced in the subcontinent a centralized federal model a deviated version of federalism that historically existed in the subcontinent. The British division of power started from British Councils Acts since 1850s to the detailed Government Act of India 1935. This article attempts to explore whether shared rule of sovereignty existed in the form of territorial federalism or the subcontinent encountered federalism only if with the arrival of the British empire. This article further tries to compare between both indigenous territorial federalisms which existed before the British and the British introduced federal model. These questions are attempted through qualitative study with published data on the theory of federalism.