Regionalism in China and India. In India regionalism is accommodated through the federal system and the formation of states along linguistic and ethnic lines. In contrast China adopts a unitary system which rests authority solely on a centralized power,

A region is an area in which its citizens are unified on the basis of language, culture, economic and political interests. Regionalism can be defined as a feeling of pride or loyalty to a region or community and individual belongs to. This ideology may stem a notion of superiority of one region over another and it produces dependability to a community rather than to the nation as a whole. Furthermore, Regionalism is an ideological concept in politics, which focuses on the interests of a particular region, or group of regions, by increasing the regions influence, and political power by means or measures of delegation, states' rights, decentralization, autonomy, and separation from sovereignty. While still connected to some sort of central government, regionalism affects development by promoting and strengthening self-governing bodies, forming a more effective form of allocation of local resources, which would benefit local populations, raise competition levels and stimulate competition levels amongst the regions. In addition Regionalism affects the issue of development because it divides cities, states into separate administrative regions. The decentralization of power in India unlike the centralization of power in China provides the uppermost levels of democracy. Regionalism becomes an impediment to development when it encourages protectionist economy and a closed culture not available to compare itself with other different cultural local entities. In India regionalism is accommodated through the federal system and the formation of states along linguistic and ethnic lines. In contrast China adopts a unitary system which rests authority solely on a centralized power, with the local governments allocated by central government. Furthermore, Regionalism in India is largely dependent on an immense amount of political parties that embody the different cultures and communities within their country. While in China, Regionalism is dependent on a one Political Party that determines the needs rather than represents the needs of the people. In this essay, I will discuss how regionalism has affected economic development, and education in both India and China. I will also illustrate how regionalism has affected the political parties and the dynamics of local autonomy. Overall, the way China has handled the differences within their states has contributed to their effectiveness in implementing policy changes and economic reforms. Even though India is diverse in every aspect, some scholars suggest that Regionalism has been a success through the countries cultural and linguistic differences in creating unity, however, it has produced problems in the implementation of policies and economic reform.

Regionalism describes situations in which different religious or ethnic groups with distinctive identities coexist within the same state boundaries, often concentrated within a particular region and sharing strong feelings of collective identity. It often involves ethnic groups whose aims include independence from a national state and the development of their own political power. Both India and China are sub-continental states enclosing distinct geo-economic regions of their own. Each inherited fissiparous tendencies and deep political cleavages from the pre-independence/pre-liberation periods. The worst of these (between the Indian Muslim League and the Indian national Congress in India and between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China in China) resulted in the partition of India at the time of independence in 1947 and the establishment of the ROC on Taiwan when Kuomintang was expelled from mainland China in1949. In addition Mansigh suggests that the Cold war put barriers on Asia that directly impinged on China and India, in the 1950s China was in alliance with the Soviet Union and India cooperated in economic development projects with countries in South and Southeast Asia within the framework of the Colombo plan and ECAFE, but “regionalism was not part of their agenda. The Initiative for forming regional associations in Asia was taken by smaller countries and China and India became parts of these associations in the 1980s and 1990s.

Regionalism has created balance and imbalances within India. India is a massive country having continental dimensions and comprising no fewer than 28 States and 7 Union Territories. It is a multi-racial, multi-lingual nation. Social factors contributing to regionalism in India include the diverse languages and different cultures. Among the many diverse cultures and languages, it is not a surprise that there are many regional feelings, regional parties, and regional institutions and organizations representing goals of the people. Therefore, these social factors contribute to the division among the Indian people. Regionalism has remained perhaps the most potent force in Indian politics ever since independence (1947), if not before. It has remained the main basis of many regional political parties which have been governing many states since the late 1960s.

In addition, India is a new federation with a high density population. Spate suggests that modern federalism which is essentially a form of government appropriate to new lands with vast area and thin population, is valid in the sense that every new political and administrative experiment has a better chance of success in new and relatively empty lands where people do not have a long history, and where strong and conflicting cultural identities in the component regions have not developed. However, countries such as India, with deep-rooted historical loyalties and with one of the oldest histories in human civilization, have adopted the federal form of government. Moreover, Dikshit asserts that India has generally been regarded as one of the most successful federations outside the classical group.

In India, Regionalism is accommodated by a federal system. In a federal system, there are two levels of government with constitutional authority to make laws affecting citizens. The National government in India, also known as the Centre or Union, has constitutional powers superior to those of the regional units, called states. Government is divided between the Union and the states. Therefore, India is a ‘Union of States”. The Union and States are each responsible for different activities. According to Charlton, The State has the right to constitute and determine the powers of the local government entities. Moreover, the National parliament has residuary power, the power to make laws.

The Union Government in India has the taxing powers. However, according to Charlton States may collect sales taxes and taxes on agricultural income, alcoholic beverages mineral rights, luxuries and etc. Some analyses of Indian Politics suggest that the development of strong regional polities offers the best hope for nation unity and democracy and reflects the spread of political participation to many groups formally excluded with a society. Overall that regionalism offers hope for national unity. Therefore one can argue that it has helped in building a nation by allowing the democratic system within India to accommodate the demands of each region. ...

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India has an immense linguistic diversity; India’s languages consist of Hindi and twenty-two other languages. Regionalism was given a new incentive by the emergence of the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh .The growth of this movement can be traced back, The commission of the 1955 report recommended that political boundaries be redrawn largely along linguistic lines, and in the 1956 States Reorganization Act provided for fourteen states and six union territories (in contrast to the twenty-seven states that has existed in 1950). Regionalism is embedded in India’s diversity of languages cultures, tribes, communities, religions and so on, and encouraged by the regional concentration of those social attributes, and stimulated by a sense of regional deprivation. Culturally, India’s different regions are different from one another. For instance, southern India (the home of Dravidian cultures), which is itself a region of many regions, is evidently different from the north, the west, the central and the north-east.. Even after various phases of territorial restructuring since 1950, most regions of India contain many sub regions marked by some social and cultural identity symbols. In India, regionalism, or sense of loyalty to the particular region manifested itself variously (Ram 1968; Rao 1975; Chandra, Mathur and Pandey eds 1976; Reddy and Sharma 1979; Mishra 1984; Wallace 1985; Das Gupta 1988; Sarkar 1991; Mukherjee 1992).

Regionalism has been detrimental to India: by creating deprivation due to neglect in development and resource redistribution. Furthermore, Regionalism is a phenomenon that has affected nationwide unity and reliability, and challenging the authority of the state. Some scholars have expressed similar views by seeing regionalism as “anti-system, anti-federal” and so on. National unity is not impaired if the people of a region have a genuine pride and loyalty in their language and culture. However, regionalism develops into a serious threat to national unity if politicians do not go beyond their regional loyalty and claim to stand only for their regional interests and the individuals within their regions. In addition, regional parties may sometimes obstruct national unity and integrity if they exceed their area of activity.

However, regionalism should not always be understood as a harmful or anti-national phenomenon, unless it takes an aggressive turn and encourages the growth of secessionist tendencies. But positively oriented scholars have seen values in regionalism in the context of building the nation, or national cohesion provided the political system is accommodative of timely meeting the demands of the regions. Moreover, individuals should not conceive regionalism as a harmful phenomenon because it seems as if nationalism and regionalism are the same. However, the growth of regional values, loyalty and consolidation of regional forces may conflict with the central administration and government of India.

The Federal system accommodates regionalism, due to India’s various cultures and languages. Therefore, enforcing uniformity in a huge diverse country like India would be impossible. Several regional political parties have merged in recent years and have gained strength for obvious reasons. Most of the national patties have even failed to live up to the people's expectations. It explains why more State-based parties have been formed in various regions and is quite successful in their aims. Regional parties are not a new phenomenon. Several parties have existed in the country for the last many decades. They have held power, or are still holding power, in many states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Pondicherry, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and other States in the North-Eastern region. Regional parties have not be regarded as anti-national and threat to the nation's unity. Moreover, Indian federalism as a method of accommodation of regionalism in India has created political stability. Therefore, it results from the appropriate balance between shared rule and self-rule. The need for federalism is enhanced in countries with ethnically distinct regions where the territorial accommodation of

distinct groups of people is of paramount importance. In addition, India’s federal system has been able to accommodate ethnically distinct regions because it is based on the recognition of differences.

The Indian people have confidence in regional parties because they believe that they alone can defend the interests of the State concerned and can fight for the legitimate rights and powers of the States without being constrained by their association with a national party. Regional parties naturally concentrate on protection and promoting regional interests and they do not affect larger interests of the country. It is also significant that in the Lok Sabha a regional party (Telegu Desam) now forms the largest opposition group. Some measures taken for states in India involve the constitutional provisions. This was created for the creation of new states in India. The Indian federation, constitutionally speaking, is an indestructible union of destructible states. The Indian Constitution (Articles 3-4) empowers the Union Parliament (Lok Sabha (popularly elected Lower House, and Rajya Sabha, the Council of States) to reorganize the states for territorial adjustment. It is provided that Parliament may by law: (1) Form a new state by separation of territory from any state, or by uniting two or more states, or parts of states, or by uniting any territory to a part of any state;(2) Increase the area of any state; (3) Diminish the area of any state; (4) Alter the boundaries of any state; and (5) Alter the name of any state etc.

Among the causes of the growth of regionalism is prolonged maladministration and neglect of an area or State by the Central, Government. There has been a creeping disappointment against Central rule. Regional symbols, regional culture, history and in many cases a common language, all promote regionalism. The Centre's indifference to the development of certain regions has created imbalances. Some areas particularly in the North are well developed, with adequate infrastructure while others are way behind. Regionalism has negatively affected India because some regions are not receiving equal treatment in terms of wealth distribution. From this stems that wealth distribution greatly affects the education system. Therefore, if a region is a economically inferior, then the education system is going to be worse off than other regions that are economically superior. Illiteracy rates within the poorer regions are going to be higher.

Regionalism can also be regarded as a challenge to democracy and national integration. Mansing suggests that Regionalism will come into conflict with nationalism only when it becomes aggressive and when members of the various regional parties tend to forget that they are all Indians and citizens of the same country. Non- regional conflicts can be a concern in the Indian society. However, there are constitutional means to deal with regional conflicts, while the communal and caste conflicts have often to be settled in the streets.. Therefore, Inter-regional or centre-region clashes have never created a serious flare-up whereas communal clashes regularly cause mayhem. In addition, there are significant differences among the regional parties in India. The all have differences in the way they approach policies. These policies have delayed the formation of an effective, strong and practical amalgamation of regional parties in order to assist the emergence of a national alternative to the ruling party at the centre. Therefore, the growth of regional parties is not irreconcilable with the development of nation-building.

In order to remedy all the harmful effects that result from regionalism in India; The regional parties patriotism should unite. The majority groups should not become arrogant or obsessed with power. They should be generous towards the minorities; therefore, religious, cultural and linguistic repression of regional goals is not the solution.

According Bhattacharyya , India’s federal reconciliation of regional identity with autonomy has a democratic aspect. It operates at two levels. Any political demand for statehood, or sub-statehood, to begin with, must, first, demonstrate identifiable popular support born of mass mobilization, before such demands are conceded to. Secondly, the political institutions achieved (whether a state government, or a regional or tribal council) must be elected by universal adult suffrage in every five years, as it is the normal political practice for such representative institutions throughout India. Therefore, Indian federalism has provided the institutional ground within which various diverse ethnicities have defined themselves, and are able to guard and celebrate their identity. The underlying principle in various regional accommodations of identity in India has remained internal self-rule and autonomy. Moreover, India’s federalism has accommodation regionalism quite well. However, with too many political parties, there are many decisions made by these political parties. This causes the bureaucracy to delay policy implementation due to many different groups being involved..

Like India, China is also very large and diverse. Regionalism plays a large role in government. Chinas levels of government consist of province, country, and township. Regionalism in China is accommodated by a unitary system. Therefore, central government has all the authority within the country. China is organized in twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions and four centrally administered municipalities. Furthermore, it shares with India the struggle to create balanced and efficient center-province relationships. According to Charlton, the most recent changes in boundaries were the separation of Hainan Island from Guangdong Province and the establishment of Chongqing municipality. The incorporation of Hong King in 1997 and Macao in 1999 as special administrative regions (SARs) also altered the administrative map.

Cheng suggests that Regionalism as he conceived, advocates the introduction of a government program for the coordinated development of the potentialities of the various geographical regions directed toward promoting the general welfare of the national as a whole. Furthermore in no other country is the need for regionalism more urgent than in china. Before Chinas official contracts with the West in the middle of the 19th century, the Chinese people had been organized under a governmental system of administrative decentralization. This governmental system was the natural outgrowth of a long established tradition which, for more than three thousand years, had sanctioned the right of the people to impeach their ruler whenever he became licentious or oppressive. Furthermore, in the absences of an unimpeachable sovereign, internal political changes were determined mainly by the economic development of the various geographical regions. With a region receiving economic superiority, the leader of the region was able to extend his influence over the rest of the country.

A feature of the post-Mao reform era was to shift power from national to regional centers. This was done in order to create a new growth and development strategy for China’s economy from one of national self-reliance to one that participated in the international market. This left the sub national governments in China with authority over the economy in their region. Charlton suggests that earlier polices sought equalization of wealth between regions and classes, and capital investment was directed to underdeveloped inland provinces. This new authority over state owned enterprise over industry used to be governed by the central government. The result of this policy shift was obvious by the 1990s, when the coastal provinces, led by Guangdong Zhenjiang, and Fujian, experienced the highest rates of economic growing the world.

In China, Regionalism has greatly been affected by the (SEZs) The Idea of establishing “Special Economic Zones” was first initiated in China in 1980. There were two contrasting views or models that were being formulated by the Chinese leaders. One was to develop comprehensive economic development zones of considerable size in the peripheral and less developed regions of the country where foreign investors are provided with various incentives preferential treatments to engage not only in manufacturing production but also in a whole range of economic activities...the second view was to designate small enclaves in areas with established economies and population concentration for modern export processing type of activities, with the main emphasis on manufacturing production. Furthermore, these economic zones were created for foreign direct investment. As well as , these SEZs are tax-free that provide exemptions from customs and preferential treatment with the aim of attracting foreign investment to the country.

There have been two major repercussions from the creation of these SEZs. The first has been the dramatic shift in employment and population migration patterns from the inland to the coastal provinces such as Hong Kong. These regional disparities drove millions of people to migrate to the richer provinces in search of opportunities. The central government was concerned about the political consequences of unemployment. Charlton suggests that there was a floating population within these SEZ and it was disproportionately made up of young males with modest education levels. The Second repercussion was the rapid growth also severely exacerbated the disparity in wealth between coastal and inland provinces, as well as the autonomous areas, where most of the minority nationalities live. The investments in these special economic zones, affected the population living within them as well. There was a difference in the distribution of wealth among the provinces in China. Furthermore, a political factor for the disparity that came from the SEZs was the declining opportunities of jobs and investments for the rural and urban people within China. In 1999, the Chinas government launched a policy for the “Great Western Development,” with the intent of reducing the disparities between the coastal and interior provinces. Development in the interior involves a number of issues, such as, lower education rates, cultural and ecological sensitivities, and physical inaccessibility. Therefore, Chinas Special Economic Zones have benefited china economically. However it has greatly marginalized individuals living within the regions.

China is not as centralized as once believed, the expanse and huge populations of some of the provinces and states in china have meant that the central government must rely on the provincial government to coordinate policy as well as to deliver goods and services. Furthermore, one can say that even though China has had a strong central authority. It can be difficult to regulate all provinces. Chinas size and diversity contribute to regional forces that challenged its nationwide unity. Decentralized development within China has been linked to the large change in the public funding basis of health services. Bardhan suggests China is a glowing example of industrialization under decentralization. But one side effect of economic decentralization is acute regional inequality. As in the health services, decentralized financing of education in China made things difficult for local governments, particularly in rural and inaccessible areas, to keep up with the mandated educational expansion, and the requisite increased school fees made things difficult for the poor for many years. Bardhan suggests that educational disparities increased in the reform period, and differential schooling has now become a major source of widening class division in China. However, In China private schools have been growing rapidly, especially secondary Education in urban areas which is funded by the central government.

China suppresses regionalism because of its one unified government. Furthermore, The Asian Financial crisis has affected regionalism in china by restoring a greater degree of political power and autonomy.Chinas economic regionalism displays how economic wealth can create considerable differences between regions, including the distribution of wealth and the means in which the regions are governed. The states and provinces answer to the one single government power in control in China. This shows that China has maintained its national unity.

Regionalism in India is largely dependent on an immense amount of political parties that embody the different cultures and communities within their country. While in China, Regionalism is dependent on a one Political Party that determines the needs rather than represents the needs of the people. Regionalism has positively affected economic development in China and negatively in India. Economic development in India has been difficult because of all the parties involved. In China Economic development has flourished due to the one political party in power. Regionalism has also had a big affect on India and Chinas education systems. We can see the economic inequality among different regions within their countries. Overall, the way China has handled the differences within their states has contributed to their effectiveness in implementing policy changes and economic reforms. In India, Regionalism has been a success through the countries cultural and linguistic differences in creating proper accommodations and unity among the different regions. However, Both China and India have been subjected to the negatives that come from Regionalism: This is something inevitable in any country with large populations such as theirs.

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Ibid

Prabhat Jha, Vendhan Gajalakshmi, Prakash C. Gupta,Rajesh Kumar, Prem Mony, Neeraj Dhingra, Richard Peto, “Prospective Study Collaborators Prospective Study of One Million Deaths in India: Rationale, Design, and Validation Results”, http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0030018#s1

Harihara, Bhattacharyya. “Federalism and Regionalism in India: Institutional strategies and Political: accommodation of Identity.”( University of Heidelberg:May2005),2.

O. H. K. SPATE. “India and Pakistan: A General and Regional Geography”, (Cambridge, 1954), 88.

Ramesh D, Dikshit. Geography and Federalism. (Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 61, No. 1, 1971) , 111.

Daniel J.Elzar, ”Exploring Federalism(Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1987)

Sue Ellen .M. Charlton, “Comparing Asian Politics: India, China and Japan” (west view press, 2010), 248.

Ibid,249.

Ibid.

Ibid, 253.

Ibid,251.

Harihara, Bhattacharyya. “Federalism and Regionalism in India: Institutional strategies and Political: accommodation of Identity.”( University of Heidelberg:May2005),3.

Ibid

Reddy, R G and Sharma, B A, Regionalism in India: A Study of Telengana (New

Delhi: Concept, 1979), 24.

Mukherjee, B. Regionalism in Indian Perspective (Calcutta: Bagchi & Co,

1992),12.

David B. Knight,”Identity and Territiory:Geographical Perspectives on Nationalism and Regionalism”.514.

Ibid ,34.

Harihara, Bhattacharyya. “Federalism and Regionalism in India: Institutional strategies and Political: accommodation of Identity.”( University of Heidelberg:May2005),4.

Ibid, 10.

Surjit ,Mansing. Between Asia and Global Community: India and China In Comparative Perspective,(International Studies,2002),42.

Reddy, R G and Sharma, B A, Regionalism in India: A Study of Telengana (New

Delhi: Concept, 1979), 35.

Harihara, Bhattacharyya. “Federalism and Regionalism in India: Institutional strategies and Political: accommodation of Identity.”( University of Heidelberg:May2005),25.

Sue Ellen .M. Charlton, “Comparing Asian Politics: India, China and Japan” (west view press, 2010), 248.

Cheng. Cheng-Kun,” Social Forces : Regionalism in Chinas Postwar Construction” (university of Washington:1943),1..

Ibid

Ibid,255.

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Ibid, 258.

Ibid

Pranab,Bardhan.”Awakening Giants: Feet of Clay, Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India.”

Sue Ellen .M. Charlton, “Comparing Asian Politics: India, China and Japan” (west view press, 2010), 255/.

Ibid, 108.

Ibid,112.

Paul, Bowles,”Asias Post-Crisis Regionalism: Bringing the State Back in, Keeping the (united) States out”(International Political Economy) Vol.9. No.2(May, 2002),231.