Federalism-best form of governance:Venkatachalaiah

Hyderabad, Aug 26 (UNI) Democracy will not survive without recognising pluralism and federal form of governance it best-suited for the world, Former Chief Justice of India M N Venkatchalaiah observed today.

The Constitution framers had framed the most flexible laws taking into account the vast diversity in the country, he said, delivering the Andhra Pradesh High Court Golden Jubilee Commemoration Lecture on ''Federalism: The Political Future of the World'' here.

''So infinite is the range of diversity that there are only a few parallels in the history of Constitution making'', Justice Venkatachalaiah, who had headed the Constitution Review Commission said.

Despite the diversity, India was able to govern itself well unlike homogenous nations like Northern Ireland which were finding it difficult to manage differences.

Democracy could not thrive without pluralism, he observed, adding more and more autocratic countries were switching to democracy in the last two decades. The survival of democracy depended on federalism and ensuring freedom of expression to the people, Mr Venkatachalaiah, who was also former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission pointed out.

He called for strengthening of the grassroot level democracy, and observed that there was legislative inadequacy to achieve the Constitutional mandate enshrined in the 73rd and 74th Constituional amendments. The provisions of the Acts were justiciable in nature, he added.

USA and European countries achieved rapid growth by putting in place an effective institutional mechanism, he observed.

The federal-like character was manifested in the Court of Justice for European Union, which was a successful example of integration with a central bank, common currency and common market. The European union exhibited regionalism at its best with revoval of all barriers, including fiscal and technical, he said, adding ''it governs itself without its own government''.

However, the EU had failed to come out with a common patent law, unlike the USA which has a legal framework for protecting new innovations, he said, underscoring the need for formulation of Government policies in tune with rapid economic development and advancements in Science and Technology.

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