Question

Which of the following statements are correct regarding Zonal Councils?

1. Each Zonal Council is chaired by the Home Minister of the Central Government.

2. The Chief Ministers of the states in a zone act as vice-chairmen by rotation for a period of one year.

3. The Zonal Councils are constitutional bodies established under Article 263.

• A. 1 and 2 only
• B. 1 and 3 only
• C. 2 and 3 only
• D. All are correct

Answer 1

Answer:

A. 1 and 2 only

Understanding Zonal Councils

Origin and Nature

• The Zonal Councils are statutory bodies, not constitutional bodies. They were established under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. This clarifies why statement 3 is incorrect; Article 263 deals with the Inter-State Council, which is a separate constitutional provision.

• The States Reorganisation Act, 1956, divided the country into five zones: Northern, Central, Eastern, Western, and Southern, with a Zonal Council for each zone.

• Additionally, the North Eastern Council (NEC) was constituted in 1971 by a separate Act, the North Eastern Council Act, 1971, to address the specific needs of the North-Eastern region. It includes Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim (added in 2002).

Composition and Leadership

• Each Zonal Council comprises the following key members:

  1. Chairman: The Union Home Minister serves as the common Chairman for all Zonal Councils. This fact validates statement 1.

  2. Vice-Chairman: The Chief Ministers of the States in a particular zone act as Vice-Chairmen of the Council. This position is held by rotation for a period of one year at a time. This confirms statement 2.

  3. Members: Two other ministers from each of the states in the zone, nominated by the Governor of the respective state, are also part of the Council.

  4. Advisors: The Administrator of any Union Territory within the zone, along with advisors from the NITI Aayog (formerly Planning Commission), Chief Secretaries, and Development Commissioners of the states in the zone, attend the meetings. These advisors do not have voting rights.

Objectives and Functions

• The primary objective of Zonal Councils is to promote inter-state cooperation and coordination across various fields, including economic and social planning, border disputes, linguistic minorities, and inter-state transport.

• They serve as platforms for discussing and resolving issues of common interest among the states and between the states and the Central Government.

• Zonal Councils are recommendatory bodies that play a crucial role in fostering national integration, curbing regionalism, and facilitating harmonious inter-state relations.

Zonal Councils and their Constituent States (Important for Competitive Exams)

• Northern Zonal Council: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, and the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and Chandigarh, NCT of Delhi.

• Central Zonal Council: Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.

• Eastern Zonal Council: Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal.

• Western Zonal Council: Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

• Southern Zonal Council: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.