Amit Shah chairs 27th Eastern Zonal Council meeting in Ranchi, Jharkhand

Why in news?

• Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah chaired the 27th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.
• This meeting was held after a gap of two years, while the last i.e. 26th meeting was held on 10 December 2023 in Patna, Bihar.
• The Eastern Zonal Council is a forum where the Central Government and the States/Union Territories of the region discuss issues of common interests.
• About 20 topics were discussed in detail in this meeting.
• The Eastern Zonal Council includes the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal.

Delegation and Participants:

• Jharkhand was represented by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
• Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Deputy Chief Minister Parvati Parida were present on behalf of Odisha.
• Both Deputy Chief Ministers Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary participated from Bihar side.
• West Bengal was represented by Minister of State Chandrima Bhattacharya.
• Senior bureaucrats from the Centre and states also attended the meeting.
• Key officials included Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Chief Secretaries of member states, Secretary of Inter-State Council Secretariat and other senior officials.

Regional Councils in India:

• • The proposal for regional councils was put forward by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the year 1956.
  • Five regional councils were established in India under the State Reorganization Act, 1956.
• Later, a separate regional council was established for the northeastern states under the North Eastern Council Act, 1971.
• Objective of establishment
  • The main objective of the regional councils was to strengthen national unity.
  • Their objective was also to prevent state identity, regionalism, linguisticism and separatist tendencies.
• Thus, at present a total of six regional councils are functioning in India.
• Regional councils of India and their member states
  • The Northern Regional Council includes Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Chandigarh.
  • The Central Regional Council includes the states of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.
  • The Eastern Regional Council includes West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa (Odisha) and Sikkim.
  • The Western Regional Council includes Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
  • The Southern Zonal Council comprises the Union Territories of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
  • The North Eastern Council comprises the states of Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim, Nagaland and Tripura.
• All Zonal Councils are chaired by the Union Home Minister of India.
• These councils are advisory bodies and their recommendations are not binding on the government.

 Chairman and Structure of Zonal Councils

• All Zonal Councils are chaired by the Union Home Minister of India.
• These councils are advisory bodies and their recommendations are not binding on the government.