It’s been rumoured for weeks that the government wished to reconvene Parliament (whose monsoon session has deliberately not been prorogued) in order to push through the delimitation bill that it hopes will lock in a two-thirds majority for the states in which the BJP is strong. Now it seems that isn’t happening, either because the government isn’t sure it has the votes, or because it fears that convening Parliament in the present environment will merely give the Opposition one more forum to raise a clamour about the Election Commission’s malfeasance.Whatever it eventually does, deciding the issue of delimitation in Parliament is not enough: It bypasses an essential element in our federal system, the states. Any delimitation should only follow a grand national conversation that takes the views of state governments into account. But what forum would permit them to express their views on a matter of such transcendent importance?AdvertisementAlso Read | Shashi Tharoor writes: Why an 850-seat Lok Sabha threatens Indian democracyThere’s no obvious answer, unless the government is prepared to revive the Inter-State Council from its long-standing state of desuetude. Framed under Article 263 of the Constitution, the Council was conceived by the founders as a vital institutional mechanism to foster federalism, facilitate inter-governmental consultation, and harmonise the disparate interests of the Union and the states. Yet, despite its potential, the council lay dormant for over four decades following Independence, only to be formally constituted in 1990 on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission.This initial activation was heralded as a watershed moment for Indian democracy, promising a consultative platform where state governments could engage directly with the national executive on equal terms. However, it has been subject to institutional atrophy and systemic neglect. Deprived of operational autonomy, regular meetings, and independent authority, it remains largely ineffective, leaving a critical structural void at the heart of Indian federalism.In the process, we have betrayed the visionary intent embedded within Article 263. The framers of the Constitution were conscious that they had created a federal structure that featured a strong centralising impulse in an extraordinarily diverse country. Article 263 was deliberately drafted in flexible and wide-ranging language, empowering the President to establish a council that could investigate and discuss subjects in which some or many states, or the Union and one or more states, have a common interest. It was designed to bring about better coordination of policy and action between the Centre and the states. No wonder the Sarkaria Commission identified the dormant Inter-State Council as the missing link in India’s federal equilibrium. It envisioned, as the Constitution did, a body that would serve as the premier arena for inter-governmental negotiation, policy alignment, and political conflict resolution — a dedicated constitutional organ to navigate the complexities of power-sharing in a pluralist polity.AdvertisementUnfortunately, rather than operating as a constitutional chamber mediating between the Centre and the states, the Council became an appendage of the Home Ministry, subject to its bureaucratic imperatives and political priorities. This subordination rendered it a minor department within a central ministry rather than an independent administrative entity capable of setting an unbiased national agenda. The council’s statutory obligation to meet regularly was repeatedly disregarded by successive governments; long gaps of several years between meetings became the norm. This circumscribed authority reflected a preference for unilateral central policymaking or for informal negotiations over institutionalised dialogue, and the Council never acquired the prestige and leverage necessary to influence legislative initiatives or policy decisions affecting state rights, revenues, or constitutional questions like delimitation.The result of the Inter-State Council’s atrophy is the erosion of trust between central authorities and states, especially those ruled by Opposition parties. In contemporary governance, most policy challenges, ranging from economic and tax reforms to ecological preservation, public health crises, and internal security, cut across jurisdictions. When a platform like the Inter-State Council is inactive, central policies are made without meaningful consultation with state CMs. This top-down approach inevitably triggers political friction, administrative resistance and constitutional controversy — as is certain to occur over delimitation.India needs a continuous, systematic process of shared deliberation and consultation with the states. The Constitution gives us one. It’s time we took it out of cold storage, reconstituted it as a genuinely autonomous body and re-energised it to serve the demands of modern governance. The Council’s Secretariat should be reimagined as an independent statutory authority, staffed by a diverse pool of civil servants and technical experts. Its meeting schedule must be strictly institutionalised, ensuring that the Prime Minister, key Cabinet ministers, and State Chief Ministers are convened at predictable, regular intervals to deliberate on matters of shared national importance. The Council should serve as the primary locus for negotiating major policy reforms, evaluating the local impact of national schemes, and mediating inter-state disputes regarding resource sharing, infrastructure, environmental management and constitutional change.Rebuilding the Inter-State Council as an empowered body would fundamentally alter the trajectory of Indian governance. By providing a permanent, inclusive platform for transparent dialogue, the Council can bridge the structural gap between central legislative authority and state administrative execution. It would transform Centre-state relations from an erratic cycle of political confrontation into a cooperative partnership grounded in mutual respect and constitutional legitimacy. It would permit state views to be taken into account before national policies are made. In a nation characterised by vast socio-economic diversity and complex federal dynamics, a fully functional and independent Inter-State Council is not a luxury, but a structural necessity.Prime Minister Modi popularised the phrase “cooperative federalism”, but it has remained a platitude without a platform. He now has a chance to give it substance — and he doesn’t even require a law. The Inter-State Council is already in the Constitution. Just bring it to life.The writer is a fourth-term Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram