Zonal Council

The 23rd Central Zonal Council Meeting, which was held in Bhopal and presided over by the Union Home Minister, just ended.

At the conference, the Uttarakhand government encouraged the Central government to build an airport at Chaukhatia, which is close to Paradise.

About Zonal Council

History:

When discussing the States Reorganisation Commission's report in 1956, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, proposed the concept of creating Zonal Councils.

Goals of the formation of Zonal Councils:

• national integration being promoted;
• halting the development of regionalism, linguism, acute state consciousness, and other particularistic tendencies;
• enabling cooperation and idea and knowledge sharing between the Center and the States;
• creating an environment of cooperation among the States to enable the effective and quick completion of development initiatives.

ZONAL COUNCILS

• The states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh make up the Northern Zonal Council.
• The states of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh make up the Central Zonal Council.
• The Eastern Zonal Council, which is made up of the States of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Sikkim;
• The Western Zonal Council, which unites the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli with the States of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra;
• The States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Union Territory of Puducherry make up the Southern Zonal Council.

North Eastern Council

• The Zonal Councils do not cover the North Eastern States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, and the North Eastern Council, established by the North Eastern Council Act of 1972, handles their unique issues.
• According to the 2002-notified North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act, the State of Sikkim is now a member of the North Eastern Council.

Zonal Council Organizational Structure:

• Each of these Councils is presided over by the Union Home Minister.
• Vice Chairman - By rotation, the Chief Ministers of the States that are part of each zone serve as the vice chairman of the zonal council for that zone, with each serving terms of one year.
• Members comprise the zone's chief minister, two additional ministers chosen by each state's governor, and two representatives from union territories.
• Advisors: Chief Secretaries, another officer/Development Commissioner selected by each of the States included in the Zone, and one person nominated by the Planning Commission for each of the Zonal Councils.

The Councils' Purposes:

• any topic in the sphere of economic and social planning that is of mutual interest;
• any issue involving linguistic minorities, border issues, or interstate transportation;
• any issue relating to or resulting from the States Reform Act's reorganisation of the States.

Also, Read - V.D. Savarkar