ZONAL COUNCILS (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Governance)

Context: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation will chair the 26th meeting of the Western Zonal Council at Gandhinagar.

• The Western Zonal Council comprises the states of Gujarat, Goa, and Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• The meeting is being organized by the Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat.

Zonal Councils

• Statutory body: Five Zonal Councils were established in the year 1957 under Section 15-22 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956. 
• At present there are six zonal councils– Northern, Central, Eastern, Western, Southern and North-Eastern
• Composition: The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of these Zonal Councils, while the Chief Ministers of the States included in the respective Zonal Council and the administrator and lieutenant governor of the union territories are its members.
• Two more ministers from each state are nominated by the Governor as members of the council.
• Each Zonal Council has also constituted a standing committee at the level of chief secretaries.
• Objectives:
• Bringing out national integration
• Arresting the growth of acute State consciousness, regionalism, linguism 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.