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It is still a controversial matter whether federal form of government would be more suitable for India, though a federal government has been established in India. Generally federal government becomes weak due to division of powers, but this is not the case in India.
Here the centre is more powerful, and all important subjects have been given to it. In spite of this, the supporters of a unitary form of government say that federal government is not suitable for India. They say that in a federal government there are legislatures at the centre as well as in the states.
If unitary government is not established in India, there will be a legislature as well as a cabinet at the centre and they will not be needed in the states. It will help in effecting economy in the expenditure and uniformity in the administration.
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It will also help in the removal of provincial conflicts and the central government will become more powerful. Though these arguments are very weighty, yet all the states of India shall not be willing to give up all their powers.
They will also not be ready to give up their autonomy. Though a great amount is spent on the legislatures and cabinets of the states, yet it is not possible for the central government to take up the administration of the entire country.
Now-a-days the Central Government in India is not less powerful; it can legislate on provincial subjects during an emergency and it can exercise its control over finance and administration. In case the centre is made more powerful, it will assume dictatorial powers.
The central government will also be over-burdened which will result in inefficiency of administration. In a country like India where there are diversities of castes, religion, culture, etc., unitary government is not suitable. To establish unity in diversity is possible only in a federal form of government.
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Thus, it cannot be denied that though in order to avoid provincial conflicts and to achieve economy in the administration, unitary government is quite suitable, yet in practice federal government is the only government suitable for India.