BOOK DISCUSSION ON COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM IN INDIA: MYTH OR REALITY

Indian Research Scholars Association organized a discussion on Prof. Saroj Kumar Verma’s book ‘Cooperative Federalism in India: Myth or Reality’ on 5 June at 5 pm. This book has been edited by Prof. Verma in which he has collected research papers of eminent professors and research scholars of political science from all over India and given it the shape of a book. The forward of this book has been written by renowned professor of federalism, Prof. M. P. Singh (former Head of Department, Political Science, Delhi University). This book discussion session was chaired by Prof. Shri Prakash Mani Tripathi (Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh). Prof. Yatindra Singh Sisodia (Professor and Director, Madhya Pradesh Social Science Research Institute, Ujjain) was present as the chief guest in this session. The editor of the book, Prof. Saroj Kumar Verma (Former Head of Political Science and Former Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, J.P. University, Chhapra, Bihar) was present. Four leading professors of political science from India were present as panelists in the session, including Prof. Tanvir Aijaz, Department of Political Science, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, Vice President, Centre for Multilevel Federalism (CMF), Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, Prof. Anisur Rahman, Professor and Director, UGC-Human Resource Development Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Prof. Sonali Singh, Professor in the Department of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University and Prof. Anupama Kaushik, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar. Program coordinator Vikas Kumar (Research Scholar, Department of Political Science and Human Rights, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak) welcomed everyone in the beginning and presented the objectives of the book discussion to everyone. In his presidential address, the honourable Vice Chancellor said that Professor Verma has accomplished this task by making tireless efforts, because collecting and editing good research papers is a more difficult task than writing research papers and books. He included many dimensions of federalism and said that its nature depends on the cooperation and coordination between the Centre and the states. It is often seen that sometimes conflicts arise between the states and the Centre over the use of powers, but this is not the case. This happens when some special demands are made by the states and the Centre does not fulfill them. But in India, both have always operated in the spirit of cooperation. Prof Sisodia said in his speech that many forms of federalism were seen in India, in which he explained the contemporary aspects that are developing by linking Granville Austin’s cooperative federalism to this book. The editor of the book, Prof Verma, threw light on the inspiration behind writing the book and the various aspects of federalism, especially cooperative federalism. Coordinator of the program Ganeshi Lal, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Co-coordinator: Manorama Kuntal Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, Second Co-coordinator: Ashwini Kumar Research Scholar, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak. Secretary: Sakshi Singh, Research Scholar, Faculty of Education, BHU, Program Secretary: Mrs. Asha Rajpurohit, Assistant Professor Government College, Sailana, Program Committee member Rifa Tabassum, Aligarh Muslim University and other member of the program committee Ankita Shukla, Research Scholar, Central University, Kerala, were present. Professors and research scholars from all over India were present in this program, including Vijay Kumar, Dr. Udaybhan, Jaya, Vishal, Shyam, and Swati etc. At the end of the program, Prof. N Surjeet Kumar gave the vote of thanks.