Indian federalism evolved a robust identity : Patil

New Delhi, Feb 21 (UNI) Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today said Indian federalism, once skeptically described as a unitary system with federal features, had evolved a robust identity of its own.

''India is the latest buzzword and its economic and intellectual surge is now eulogised internationally. The successes of federalism and of democracy are there for everyone to see and learn from,'' he said, while inaugurating the pre-Conference of the 4th International Conference on Federalism being held here in November this year.

Mr Patil said cooperation between the Union and the states was a critical pre-requisite and that cooperation required close coordination, accommodation of diversity, adaptation and modification to regional specifications without impairing standards of performance.

''These are necessary for governance to be effective,'' He said formal institutional arrangements for Centre-State coordination like the Planning Commission, Inter-State Council, National Integration Council, Zonal Councils and Tribunals for adjudicating disputes had been created to augment the spirit of cooperative federalism besides a host of informal mechanisms.

In this context, Mr Patil pointed out that the nation had evolved over the years in contrast to the cynicism of the early imperial and western wisdom which predicted imminent descent into chaos, anarchy or army rule.

''The fact that the Indian political and social system derive strength and sustenance from its ancient civilisations and grant philosophies had led to evolution of an unique identity that accommodates all possible forms of diversities -linguistic, cultural, geographical, religious and socio-economic.'' Union Ministers Mani Shankar Aiyar, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Saifuddin Soz, Renuka Chowdhury, Kumari Shelja, Mahavir Prasad, Sreeprakash Jaiswal and S Reghupathy also spoke at the Conference.

Mr Patil launched the Conference website at the function.

The February 21-23 pre-conference aims at finalising country-specific and issue-specific case studies to be presented during the main conference. It is being attended by eminent national and international experts on federalism, Parliamentarians, civil society activitists, ambassadors and high commissioners of partner governments of the Forum of Federations and CEOs of industrial houses.

Organised by the Union Home Ministry in association with the Forum of Federations, Ottawa, Canada, the central theme of the 4th Conference would be ''Unity in Diversity : learning from each other.'' The objective of the Conference is to promote dialogue on the renewal and development of federalism and greater co-operation among practitioners in pursuit of better governance, Home ministry sources said here.

Practitioners of federal democracy at all levels, including Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers, scholars, experts, administrators and social activists dedicated to federalism will collectively engage in the process of sharing ideas, experiences and drawing inspiration from one another.

The earlier conferences were held in Canada in 1999, Switzerland in 2002 and Belgium in 2005.

The four broad themes for the November Conference are Fiscal Federalism-Emerging issues in Fiscal Federalism, Managing Diversity: Building on and Accommodating Diversities, Inter-Governmental Relations: Interaction in Federal Systems, and Local Government and Federal Systems.

UNI