According to D.D. Basu, The Constitution of India is neither purely federal nor purely unitary but it is a combination of both. Similarly, B.N. Banerjee has said that The Constitution of India is federal in form but unitary in spirit. In fact the Constitution of India has many federal features as well as unitary features. The brief description of both is given below:

Federal Features of Indian Constitution:

1. Written and Rigid Constitution: The Constitution of India is written and rigid. The powers of the Central Government and State Governments, Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy have been clearly defined in the Constitution and there is very little possibility of conflict. The Constitution is rigid also since most of its provisions cannot be changed by a simple majority of Parliament. The ratification of at least fifty percent States is also required for the purpose. Thus, the Centre cannot make arbitrary changes in the Constitution.

2. Supremacy of the Constitution: The Indian Constitution is the supreme law of the country. No individual, institution, functionary of the government or even government can work against the provisions of the Constitution. Both the Central Government and the Governments of the States will run the administration in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. If parliament or any state Legislature passes a law in contravance of the provisions of the Constitution that can be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. That is why all the high officials of the country— President, Vice-President, Ministers, Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts—while assuming office, take an oath to abide by the Constitution and accept this supremacy of the Constitution.

3. Division of Powers: Like other federal constitutions, the Constitution of India provides division of powers between the Central Government and the Governments of the states. The powers are divided into three lists—

(i) Union List, (ii) State List, and (iii) Concurrent List.

(i) There are 97 subjects in the Union List. These subjects are of national importance and only the Parliament has the power to make laws on these subjects. These subjects include defence, foreign affairs, railways, post and telegraph, currency and coinage, etc..

(ii) State List includes 66 subjects. These subjects are of local importance and State Legislatures enjoy the power to make laws on these subjects. These subjects include police, jails, public health, agriculture and local self-government, etc..

(iii) There are 47 subjects in the Concurrent List, like marriage, divorce, bankruptcy, etc.. Although five more subjects have been included in this list (4 subjects from the State List as mentioned above and judicial administration being the fifth), yet the figure of 47 remains the same and it has been not changed by any amendment. Both the Parliament and State Legislatures can make laws on these subjects. But, if there is a conflict between a law made by the Parliament and any State Legislature on any of these subjects, the law made by the Union Parliament will prevail.

Residuary Powers have been vested with the Centre.

Unitary Features of the Indian Constitution:

1. Division of powers in favour of Centre: The Indian Constitution has distributed the powers between the Centre and the States in such a way that Centre has become stronger than the States. The Central Government gets the lion's share of the powers. Most important and almost all important subjects have been included in the Union List. If there is a clash over a subject in the Concurrent List between the Centre and the State, the will of the Centre will prevail.

2. Change in the boundaries of States: The Constitution of India empowers the Parliament to change the boundaries of the existing States or create new States or change the name of the States on the recommendation of the President. In fact this has happened in India. In a perfect federation this cannot happen. The Central Government has no right to change boundaries of States and as such it is a grave departure from federal set-up.

3. States have no right to frame their own Constitutions: In some federal States, like the USA, units of the federation (States) enjoy the power to frame their own separate Constitutions subject to certain restrictions. But, in India, States do not enjoy such power. They have no right to frame their own Constitutions or secede from the Union.

4. Single Citizenship: In the USA, citizens enjoy double citizenship. Besides being a citizen of the USA., every person is also the citizen of the state in which he is residing. On the other hand, in India, every citizen enjoys only single citizenship, i.e., citizenship of India. They are not the citizens of Punjab, Haryana, W. Bengal or Bihar.

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