UPSC Express

The Union List or List-I is a list of 100 items (the last item is numbered 97) given in Seventh Schedule in the Constitution of India on which Parliament has exclusive power to legislate. The legislative section is divided into three lists: Union List, State List and Concurrent List. Unlike the federal governments of the United States, Switzerland or Australia, residual powers remain with the Union Government, as with the Canadian federal government.

The main subjects of the Union List are: Defence, Foreign Affairs, Currency and Coinage, War and Peace, Atomic Energy, National Resources, Railways, Post and Telegraph, Citizenship, Navigation and Shipping, Foreign Trade, Inter-State Trade and Commerce, Banking, Insurance, National Highways, Census, Election, Institutions of higher education and others.

State List (66 Subjects): State List enumerates the subjects on which each State Legislature can legislate and such laws operate within the territory of each state. The main subjects of the State List are : public order, police, state court fees, prisons, local government, public health and sanitation, hospitals and dispensaries, pilgrimages within India, intoxicating liquors, relief of disabled and unemployable, libraries, communications, agriculture, animal husbandry, water supply, irrigation and canals, fisheries, road passenger tax and goods tax, capitation tax and others.

Concurrent List (47 Subjects): The Union Parliament as well as the State Legislatures have the power to legislate over the subjects listed in List III (Concurrent List). The main subjects listed in this list are : criminal law, criminal procedure, preventive detention for reasons concerned with the security of state, marriage and divorce, transfer of property other than agricultural land, contract, actionable wrongs, bankruptcy and insolvency, trust and trustees, administration of justice, evidence and oaths, civil procedure, contempt of court, lunacy, prevention of cruelty to animals, forests, protection of wild animals and birds, population control and family planning, trade unions, education, labour welfare, inland shipping and navigation, food stuffs, price control, stamp duties, and others. The actual strength of the Concurrent List is 52 as five more entries were inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment.