Why in news:

• 19th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Northern Zonal Council in Shimla recently.
• Rajasthan has laid emphasis on mutual coordination and negotiations to resolve inter-State disputes in the northern region.
• As per the official stance of the state government, the issues pending with the States and Union Territories could be addressed with the preparation of central database and execution of projects with a timely action by the Governments concerned.

Key Highlights:

• A six-member delegation, headed by Planning and Food & Civil Supplies Secretary Naveen Jain, attended the 19th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Northern Zonal Council in Shimla over the week-end.
• Mr. Jain said here the issues affecting Rajasthan were discussed with the stress on their early resolution.
• The committee identified 47 issues and discussed the strategies to address them. They included water disputes, locust attack, air pollution caused by stubble burning, railway projects, cyber crimes and new transport routes.
• Mr. Jain said 28 matters related to Rajasthan were discussed at the meeting, held under the aegis of the Inter-State Council Secretariat. The next meeting will be held shortly with the Union Home Minister.
• Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Ram Subhag Singh presided over the meeting. In addition to Rajasthan, the delegations from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir took part.

Zonal councils:

• These are statutory bodies established under the States Reorganisation Act 1956 and not constitutional bodies.
• They are only deliberative and advisory bodies.
• The major aim of the councils is to promote inter-state cooperation and coordination.
• There are 5 five Zonal councils namely:

• The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh.
• The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal.
• The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
• The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

• The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Meghalaya (vii) Sikkim and (viii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.

Composition:

• 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 the Planning Commission (which has been replaced by NITI Ayog now) 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.

Main objectives behind setting up of Zonal Councils:

• Bringing about 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.