Ambedkar’s Speech on 4th November 1948 in the Constituent Assembly

By B.R Ambedkar

The distinctive features of the Indian Federation

• The distinguishing feature of the Indian Federation is that it is a flexible federation.

• The Indian Federation is characterized with a dual polity- with a central polity and subsidiary polities, each subsidiary polity being a sovereign in the field assigned to it.

• This implies a union at the center and the states at the periphery.

• The Indian Federation tends to be more responsible, but less stable.

• The president is the head of the Indian union. He is only the head of the state not the head of the executive. He represents the nation but he does not rule the nation.

• Under the President of Indian union, there are ministers in charge of different departments, he is bound by the advice of his ministers .

• The President of Indian union has no power so long as his ministers command a majority in the parliament.

• The Indian Union is not a league of the states nor are the States administrative units of the Union Government.

• The Indian Constitution is a dual polity with a single citizenship. There is only a single citizenship for the whole of India.

• The Draft Constitution of India can be both Unitary and Federal according to the necessity of the time and circumstances.

• Normally it works as a Federal system. But in times of war, it functions as though it is Unitary. No other Federation possesses such a power.

• The union can direct the State Governments as to how they should exercise their executive authority on only specific subjects and can authorize any officer to execute powers according to its will.

• The union has also the power to suspend the financial provisions of the constitution.

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