Zonal Council: Compositions, Objectives, Functions & UPSC Notes

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There are five Zonal Councils:

1. Northern Zonal Council
    
2. Southern Zonal Council
    
3. Eastern Zonal Council
    
4. Western Zonal Council
    
5. Central Zonal Council

A sixth, the North-Eastern Council, was formed under a separate Act in 1971.

About

• Zonal Councils are the statutory bodies. An Act of Parliament establishes them, the States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
• The Act divided the country into five zones—Northern, Central, Eastern, Western, and Southern—and established a Zonal Council for each Zone to promote inter-state cooperation and coordination.
• While forming these zones, several factors were carefully considered, including geographical proximity, natural features, cultural and linguistic similarities, and the administrative convenience of the states involved.
  • The raw divisions of the country.
  • The river systems and means of communication.
  • The cultural and linguistic relationship.
  • The provisions of economic growth, protection, law, and order.
• Apart from the five Zonal Councils, a separate North-Eastern Council was established under the North-Eastern Council Act of 1971. The council comprises the states of Manipur, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Sikkim as its members.
• These advisory bodies make recommendations about any matter of common interest in economic and social planning between the Centre and States, border conflicts, linguistic minorities, inter-state transport, or issues associated with the reorganization of States.

Composition

• The Northern Zonal Council: It includes the States of Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh,
• The Central Zonal Council: It contains the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh,
• The Eastern Zonal Council: It includes the States of Bihar, Orissa Jharkhand, Sikkim, and West Bengal,
• The Western Zonal Council: The Western Zonal Council consists of the states of Gujarat, Goa, and Maharashtra, along with the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• The Southern Zonal Council: The Southern Zonal Council comprises the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

Organizational Structure

• Chairman: The Union Home Minister serves as the Chairman of each Zonal Council.
• Vice Chairman: The Chief Ministers of the states within each Zone serve as the Vice-Chairman of the respective Zonal Council by rotation, each holding the position for one year.
• Members: The chief minister and two other ministers, as selected by the governor from each state, and two members from union territories are included in the Zone.
• Advisers: Each Zonal Council includes one member appointed by the Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), the Chief Secretaries, and another officer or Development Commissioner nominated by each state within the Zone.

Objectives

• Zonal councils Bringing out national integration.
• Stopping the development of critical State consciousness, regionalism, linguism, and particularistic tendencies.
• Promoting the Centre and one States to collaborate and swap concepts and experiences.
• Setting an atmosphere of collaboration amongst the States for prosperous and fast implementation of growth projects.

Functions of the Councils:

• Any issue of common interest in the field of economic and social planning,
• Any matter concerning border conflicts, linguistic minorities, or inter-State transport,
• Any case related to or appearing out of the reorganization of the States under the States Reorganisation Act.

Check out the article on the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution here.

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