ZONAL COUNCIL | IAS GYAN

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The Union Home Minister to chair the Northern Zonal Council meeting in Jaipur.
The meeting will be attended by chief ministers, ministers, chief secretaries, principal secretaries and senior officers of the member States and senior officers of Central government.
The council will discuss issues of common interests in areas of security, road, transport, industries, water, power, and economic and social planning.

Zonal Councils

Zonal Councils aim to promote collaboration and coordination among states, UTs, and the Union.
They discuss and give recommendations on several topics.
They are only consultative and deliberative bodies.
The States Reorganization Act of 1956 established these statutory entities. The country was divided into 5 zones by the Act:
- Northern Zone
- Central Zone
- Eastern Zone
- Western Zone
- Southern Zone
Each zonal council is made up of
- The Union Home Minister (who acts as a chairman).
- CM of all States in Zone + 2 other ministers from the states (Each CM acts as a Vice-Chairman by rotation, holding office for 1 year at a time).
- Administrators of all UTs in the zone.

North-Eastern Council

A further Act of Parliament, the North-Eastern Council Act of 1971, established a North-Eastern Council in addition to the previous Zonal Councils.
Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Sikkim are among its members. Its responsibilities are similar to those of zonal councils, with a few exceptions.
It is required to examine the actions taken by member states to maintain security and public order in the region regularly.

Name	Members	Headquarters
1. Northern Zonal Council	Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh	New Delhi
2. CentraL Zonal Council	Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh	Allahabad
3. Eastern Zonal Council	Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha	Kolkata
4. Western Zonal Council	Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	Mumbai
5. Southern Zonal Council	Andhra Pradesh,Telangana,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry	Chennai

Significance of Zonal council

Zonal councils help in designing a collaborative strategy through discussions and exchange of views between Union and States on important issues.
It takes up issues involving the Union and states or between many states.
The zonal councils provide a platform for resolving disputes between the Union and the States and among many States.
Zonal Meetings are used by the Union, States and Union Territories to share their best practices.
Zonal councils also discuss a wide range of issues, including;
- Boundary-related disputes.
- Infrastructure-related matters like road, transport, industries, water, and power.
- Forests and environment.
- Food security
- Tourism
- Transport