Write a short note on Zonal Councils

Zonal Councils 

• The Zonal Councils were established by the States Reorganization Act in 1956 to achieve cooperation and coordination among States. 
• They were created in the backdrop of the linguistic reorganization of India and the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru described their objective as to “develop the habit of co-operative working”. 
• Originally five Zonal Councils were created and later on in 1971 one more Zonal Council was established for the North Eastern States. They are 

1. 1. 1. Northern Zonal Council 
      2. Southern Zonal Council
      3. Eastern Zonal Council 
      4. Western Zonal Council 
      5. Central Zonal Council 
      6. North Eastern Zonal Council 

• The union home minister will be the common Chairperson of all the Zonal Councils.
• Additionally, each Zonal Council will consist of the Chief Minister and two other Ministers of each State and the Administrator of the Union Territory in the zone. 
• The Zonal Councils will discuss and suggest measures to promote cooperation among the members in areas like economic and social planning, border disputes, inert-State transport etc.