Zonal Councils

Zonal Councils

Subject – Polity

Context – Role of southern States key in country’s development: Shah. Use Zonal Councils to settle disputes, says Home Minister

Concept –

• The Zonal Councils are the statutory (and not the constitutional) bodies. They are established by an Act of the Parliament, that is, States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
• The act divided the country into five zones (Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern) and provided a zonal council for each zone.
• While forming these zones, several factors have been taken into account which includes: the natural divisions of the country, the river systems and means of communication, the cultural and linguistic affinity and the requirements of economic development, security and law and order.
• Each zonal council consists of the following members:
  • (a) home minister of Central government.
  • (b) chief ministers of all the States in the zone.
  • (c) Two other ministers from each state in the zone.
  • (d) Administrator of each union territory in the zone.
• Besides, the following persons can be associated with the zonal council as advisors (i.e., without the right to vote in the meetings):
  • (i) a person nominated by the Planning Commission;
  • (ii) chief secretary of the government of each state in the zone; and
  • (iii) development commissioner of each state in the zone.
• The home minister of Central government is the common chairman of the five zonal councils.
• Each chief minister acts as a vice-chairman of the council by rotation, holding office for a period of one year at a time.
• The zonal councils aim at promoting cooperation and coordination between states, union territories and the Centre.
  • They discuss and make recommendations regarding matters like economic and social planning, linguistic minorities, border disputes, inter-state transport, and so on.
  • They are only deliberative and advisory bodies.
• The objectives (or the functions) of the zonal councils, in detail, are as follows:
  • To achieve an emotional integration of the country.
  • To help in arresting the growth of acute state-consciousness, regionalism, linguism and particularistic trends.
  • To help in removing the after-effects of separation in some cases so that the process of reorganisation, integration and economic advancement may synchronise.
  • To enable the Centre and states to cooperate with each other in social and economic matters and exchange ideas and experience in order to evolve uniform policies.
  • To cooperate with each other in the successful and speedy execution of major development projects.
  • To secure some kind of political equilibrium between different regions of the country.