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ABSTRACT This article provides an overview and analysis of the 1988 Sarkaria Commission Report, the most prominent in a series of studies on Indian centre-state relations. The article stresses the context under which the Sarkaria Commission was constituted and the reactions to it once released. The article focuses on key arguments presented by various state governments to restructure several aspects of federal relations in India. It concludes with an assessment of the significance of the Sarkaria Commission, and details structural reasons why most of its recommendations have not been implemented.
The Sarkaria Commission Report was one of the most prominent in a series of federal reports on Indian federalism.1 In the 1980s, it became the most extensive effort by the Indian government to assess federalism in India and to recommend practical reforms regarding legislative, administrative and financial irritants. Nearly a decade after the release of the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission, the issues discussed by the Report are prominent in India's contemporary political agenda. For instance, the last two multiparty governing coalitions in India, one called the United Front and the other one led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled their respective political platform which called for proposals for the appointment of a commission to review the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission.2
This article first analyzes the context under which the Sarkaria Commission was constituted. I will then contrast the Commission's recommendations in light of some of the key debates brought to light in the responses by some state governments to the Sarkaria Commission. My article will go on to examine the legacy of the Report. The article will argue that, despite the apparent political interest in reviving the Sarkaria Commission, its implementation has been imperilled by dramatic changes in India's political and economic landscape.
As such, the article concludes that the significance of the Sarkaria Commission will be limited as the changes in institutional design proposed by the Report will only be partially able to accommodate the dramatic changes in India's federal system.
Setting up of the Sarkaria Commission
The demands for decentralization in the form of an increased sharing of sovereignty in India came lo the fore in 1983. This year was a defining moment in a redefinition of federal relations...