The Indian Constitution seeks to maintain the balance of power between the centre and states by providing for a federal system of government. However, the term ‘federation’ has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1 of the Indian Constitution describes ‘India, that is Bharat’ as a ‘Union of States’, an expression which implies two things. Firstly, the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement between the states. Secondly, the states do not have a right to secede from the federation. In fact the States of the Indian federation have no independent existence of their own. Parliament can alter their names and territories without their consent.