Zonal Councils

In News: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah presided over the 25th Eastern Zonal Council meeting .

Aim of Zonal councils:

• To solve inter-State problems and foster balanced socio-economic development of the respective zones.
• To develop the habit of cooperative working among these States

Zonal Councils:

• The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1956
• Five Zonal Councils were set up vide Part-III of the States Re-organisation Act, 1956 – north, south, east, west and central.
• The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Meghalaya and (vii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils
• Their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.
• The State of Sikkim has also been included in North Eastern Council vide North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act, 2002.

Organisational structure:

• Chairman – The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
• Vice Chairman – The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
• Members- Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
• Advisers– One person nominated by the Planning Commission for each of the Zonal Councils, Chief Secretaries and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone
• Each Zonal Council has set up a Standing Committee consisting of Chief Secretaries of the member States of their respective Zonal Councils.
• Union Ministers are also invited to participate in the meetings of Zonal Councils depending upon necessity.
• Each Zonal Council shall meet at such time as the Chairman of the Council may appoint in this behalf.
• Since their inception in 1957, the Zonal Councils have met 106 times.

Role & Objective:

• Bringing out national integration
• Arresting the growth of acute State consciousness, regionalism, linguism and particularistic tendencies;
• Enabling the Centre and the States to co-operate and exchange ideas and experiences;
• Establishing a climate of co-operation amongst the States for successful and speedy execution of development projects.

Functions:

• Each Zonal Council is an advisory body and may discuss any matter in which States have a common interest and advise the Government.
• In particular, a Zonal Council may discuss, and make recommendations with regard to:

• any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning;
• any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-State transport;
• any matter connected with or arising out of, the re-organization of the States under the State’s Reorganisation Act.

Source: PIB

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) Which of the following bodies does not/do not find mention in the Constitution? (2013)

1. National Development Council
2. Planning Commission
3. Zonal Councils

Select the correct answer using the codes given below

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3 only