What are Concurrent List and Its Subjects

An important feature of a constitution that is federal in nature is the distribution of the powers between the states and the centre. To meet the various needs of India, the Constitution of India provides a new form of a federal system. While forming the blueprint for the distribution of powers the framers of the constitution adopted the pattern of the 1935 Act by the Government of India.

Foremost priority was given to the union/central government than the state government with respect to the distribution of the legislative powers. The scheme of distribution of the powers between the states and the centre (as per the 3 lists of the Indian Constitution), fundamental rights (which states that legislative powers will not contravene the fundamental rights) and also the other provisions of the Indian Constitution (that is between Article 245-254) are the powers of the legislative.

There exist 3 lists that include the distribution of powers as per the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India.

1. The Union List: The list contains 97 items and is made up of the subjects that are of national importance and provide uniformity in the laws that apply to the entire country. Only the central government has the right to exercise these powers. Some of the subjects of the union list include defence, currency, banking, foreign affairs and so on.

2. The State List: The state list of the Indian constitution includes a total number of 66 items and subjects that are of interest to the local and the state. Public health, Police, Forest, Health and so on are some of the subjects included in the state list of the Indian Constitution.

Concurrent List: Concurrent List of the Indian Constitution includes the vestige of 

1. the power-related both to Central and the State governments. The concurrent list of the Indian Constitution consists of 52 subjects.

What is a Concurrent List?

 The Concurrent list is not found in any other federal form of the government. The main purpose forming of the concurrent list was to avoid the excessive rigidity of a double-fold distribution. It could be called a zone of twilight. In the concurrent list the states as well as the central government, both can take up the initiative. The states can take up the initiative for the subjects falling under the concurrent list that are ‘not so important and the subjects that are of utmost importance in the concurrent list are been taken up by the Central Government.

The 42nd amendment of the year 1976 transferred five subjects to the concurrent list from the state list. The five subjects transferred from the state list to the concurrent list include weights and measures, education, administration of the justice, constitution and the organizing of all the courts except the High Court and Supreme Court of India. The idea concurrent list is been derived from the Constitution of Australia and is been implemented in the Constitution of India. As per the rule of the Concurrent List in the Constitution of India, both the central as well as state governments have the authority to form the rules and regulations. Even though the list provides the states to form the rules along with the central government in the concurrent list but if there arises any form of conflict between the state and the centre then the concurrent list states that the laws framed by the union government / central government will persist. The matters that are not essentially enumerated in the concurrent list of the Constitution of India are the ones about which the uniformity of the legislation across the nation is desired.

Some of the important subjects of the concurrent list of the Constitution of India include the following,

• Marriage

• Succession

• Trade Union

• Adoption

• Education

• Forest

Apart from the state list, union list and concurrent list the powers are vested even in another segment known as the residuary powers. These are the powers that are not mentioned either in the state, central or the concurrent list of the Indian constitution. The central government owns solo jurisdiction over the residual powers of the Indian Constitution.

Conclusion

The powers of the Indian constitution are vested in the state, union and the concurrent list. This feature of the federal system of the government enables efficient working both at the Centre and at the state levels of the nation. The main objective forming of the concurrent list was to avoid the excess rigidity to a double-fold distribution. Thus, the concurrent list plays a major role in enabling the bonding between the state and the union government of the country of India.