National Security Federalism a Study of Institutional Mechanisms in India

Abstract

National Security is a broad concept according to which it is the duty of the government to protect its citizens and nation in all aspects. It is a primary goal of any government to provide safety and national defense to its citizen. In the times of peace and prosperity, people often claim they care about other things more. But if national security is threatened, their priorities change immediately and protection of nation becomes the ultimate goal of government as well as people. No one likes their lives to be massively and unexpectedly disrupted in any manner. Generally, threat which affects any nation can be categorized into two categories viz. internal threats and external threats. Internal threats include organized crime, poverty, corruption, naxalism, unemployment, communalism, etc. External threats are border disputes between two neighbouring countries, smuggling, illegal migration, foreign terrorists, cybercrimes etc. newlineEnsuring national security in federal government is much complicated and tough task than the unitary government. This is because there is a shared power between Centre and State; and both are free to use their power in their respective fields. In India, there is a federal set up of government as the Constitution has divided the powers between the Centre and the States in terms of the Union List, State List and Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule. Though maintaining Law and Order is the subject of State List, as per Article 355 and schedule-7, in order to secure national interest, central government can intervene in states. According to Article 355, It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the Government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution . National security is pertinent to any nation but along with that the constitutional division of power between centre and state should also be observed. newlineIn case, there are different political parties ruling governme