26th meeting of Eastern Zonal Council

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What are Zonal Councils?
• What is the organisational structure of the zonal councils?
• What are the functions of Zonal Council?
• How this council is different from other platforms promoting cooperative federalism?
• News Summary: 26th meeting of Eastern Zonal Council
• Key highlights of the speech 

Why in news?

• The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah chaired the 26th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in Patna, Bihar.
• The Chief Minister of Bihar, and senior Ministers from Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand attended the meeting.

What are Zonal Councils?

• Background:
  • The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first PM Nehru in 1956.
  • This was suggested during the course of debate on the report of the States Re-organisation Commission
  • It was suggested that a high-level advisory forum should be set up:
    • to minimise the impact of linguistic hostilities prevailed at that time;
    • to create healthy inter-State and Centre-State environment.
• About
  • In the light of the idea promoted by the then PM Nehru, five Zonal Councils were set up under the States Re-organisation Act, 1956.
  • Zonal Councils are the statutory and not the constitutional bodies.
  • The five councils are:
    • The Northern Zonal Council; The Central Zonal Council; The Eastern Zonal Council; The Western Zonal Council; The Southern Zonal Council.
  • The North Eastern States are not included in the Zonal Councils.
  • Their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.
• Objectives of Zonal Councils
  • Bringing out national integration;
  • Arresting the growth of acute State consciousness, regionalism, linguistic and particularistic tendencies;
  • Enabling the Centre and the States to co-operate and exchange ideas and experiences;
  • Establishing a climate of co-operation amongst the States for successful and speedy execution of development projects.

What is the organisational structure of the zonal councils?

• Chairman
  • The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
• Vice Chairman
  • The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
• Members
  • Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
• Advisers
  • One person nominated by NITI Aayog for each of the Zonal Councils,
  • Chief Secretaries and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone
• Union Ministers are also invited to participate in the meetings of Zonal Councils depending upon necessity.

What are the functions of Zonal Council?

• Each Zonal Council is an advisory body and may discuss any matter in which some or all of the States represented in that Council have a common interest.
• It may advise the Central Government and the Government of each State concerned as to the action to be taken on:
  • any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning;
  • any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-State transport;
  • any matter connected with or arising out of, the re-organization of the States under the States Reorganisation Act.

How this council is different from other platforms promoting cooperative federalism?

• There are a large number of other platforms which works on the principle of promoting cooperative federalism.
  • E.g. Inter State Council, Governor’s/Chief Minister’s Conferences and other periodical high-level conferences.
• However, the Zonal Councils are different, both in content and character.
• They are regional fora of cooperative endeavour for States linked with each other economically, politically and culturally.
• Being compact high-level bodies, specially meant for looking after the interests of respective zones, they are capable of focusing attention on specific issues taking into account regional factors, while keeping the national perspective in view.

News Summary: 26th meeting of Eastern Zonal Council

• Increase in number of Zonal Council meetings
  • In the last 9 years from June 2014 till now, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a total of 56 meetings of the Zonal Councils and their Standing Committees were held (an average of 6.2 meetings every year).
  • 1157 issues have been resolved in the meetings of the zonal councils.
• Important issues covered in the Zonal Council meetings
  • Many issues of national importance have also been included in the agenda of the Zonal Council meetings.
  • These include:
    • eliminating malnutrition among children through Poshan Abhiyan(nutrition campaign),
    • reducing the dropout rate of school children,
    • operationalisation of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) for speedy investigation and speedy disposal of rape cases against women and children,
    • facility of Banks/India Post Payment Bank branches within 5 km of each village,
    • formation of two lakh new Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACSs) in the country and strengthening of all existing PACSs.

Q1) What is States Re-organisation Act, 1956?

The States Reorganization Act of 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories. The Act organized the states along linguistic lines, abolishing the existing distinction among Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D states.

Q2) What is cooperative federalism?

Cooperative federalism is a concept of federalism where national, state, and local governments work together to solve common problems. In cooperative federalism, the federal and state governments have a flexible relationship where they work together on a variety of issues and programs.

Source: Nitish flags special status demand; Shah says issues in caste survey | PIB