India’s Cooperative Federalism during Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The role of cooperative federalism in India in dealing with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects such as economic crisis and large-scale human migration, among others, is put to test. The initial stages of the pandemic response highlighted the unitary tilt in the Indian federal structure. At the later stages of this crisis, cooperative federalism also appears to be visible. Nevertheless, the lack of cooperation between the States, and the Centre’s failure to facilitate horizontal federalism without invoking any intergovernmental agency for the purpose has made the lives of migrant workers miserable. An intergovernmental institution such as Inter-Sate Council (ISC) could have been used as a common forum for the Centre and the States for the purpose of both vertical and horizontal cooperative federalism. The pandemic has also brought to the fore the importance of India’s grassroots level of government, though, unfortunately, their potential remains underutilised.