The vast majority world's countries unitary States; federal account just over ten percent of them. This includes the Indian Union. The end of the 20th century was marked by dramatic events related to serious internal conflicts in a number of federal states. We have witnessed the collapse of some of them and the emergence of new independent States in their place. This process was not always peaceful, and its severe consequences will be felt for a long time. It is not necessary to go far for examples - this is both the former Yugoslavia and the USSR. If in the first case the collapse itself was accompanied by bloody wars that continue to this day, in the second case it was bloodless, although in a number of former republics of the Soviet Union, and now independent states, acute conflicts arose, accompanied by armed clashes. Russia had to rebuild its federal relations. This process did not go smoothly. THE MODEL OF INDIAN FEDERALISM The experience of building federal relations of a relatively young state, the Indian Union, which has a history of just over 50 years, is of particular interest. Over the years, the country's population has more than tripled. (According to the 2001 Census of India, the population was 1,027,015,247. Every sixth person living on Earth today is an Indian.) Within the framework of this federation, many large and small ethnic groups, linguistic communities, and individual territories were able to exercise their right to self-determination by creating autonomous divisions, that is, states that were designed to help the peoples inhabiting them preserve their culture, language, and traditions, strengthen or develop their own self-consciousness (self-identification), and provide faster economic and social development. and cultural development. As a rule, these achievements were preceded by a long struggle. The decision to create three new states of Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand in India on the territories of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh an ... Read more