Building a National Economy: Origins of Centralized Federalism in India

India’s post-colonial constitution introduced a new approach to federalism based on a substantial sphere of shared responsibility between Central and State governments, especially in the fields of social and economic policy, and a Central government with strong prerogatives to intervene in provincial affairs. This was qualified at the time as a diminished or “quasi” form of federalism. Existing explanations of the origins of India’s centralized federalism focus on efforts to curb further secession attempts in the aftermath of Partition or the need for a strong Center to consolidate democracy in a highly unequal society. This article draws on archival materials to demonstrate that distinctive elements of Indian federalism were shaped at their foundations by the desire to boost industrial development and lay the foundation for a national welfare state in a post-colonial future by preventing the consolidation of “race to the bottom” dynamics arising from unregulated inter-provincial economic competition.

On lake bottom dynamics—the energy–topography factor

It is suggested that the areal distribution of erosion and transportation (aE + T) or accumulation (aA = 100 − aE + T) at the bottom of lakes is governed by: (1) an energy factor, [Formula: see text], where a is the lake area (km2), Dmax is the maximum depth (m); (2) a slope factor, [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the mean depth (m); and (3) a form factor, [Formula: see text]. This relationship may be given as: aE + T = 52.0ET + 19.3 where ET is the energy–topography factor; or[Formula: see text]This relationship is important since it provides a means by which to determine the percentage of a given lake area that is dominated by erosion and transportation processes (aE + T) or accumulation processes (aA) from only three morphometric standard parameters: lake area (a), mean depth ([Formula: see text]), and maximum depth (Dmax). The relationship may also be used as a tool to gain better insight into the difficult problem of distinguishing between net and total deposition, i.e., the resuspension problem, since resuspension in a lake depends on the energy, slope, and form factors.