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The 28th meeting of the Western Zonal Council was held at Panaji, Goa, chaired by Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah.
Zonal Councils are statutory advisory bodies created under Part III of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 — not under Article 263, which covers the Inter-State Council.
PIB placed the meeting count at 25 during 2004-14 against 71 since 2014, with 1,893 issues discussed and 1,445 resolved.
The agenda was almost entirely scheme monitoring — AB-PMJAY, Poshan Abhiyaan, PACS computerisation, ERSS-112, Fast Track Special Courts — rather than inter-state dispute settlement.
Members were urged to roll out the new Nyaya Sanhitas and to link urban cooperative banks to the cyber-fraud reporting system and I4C.
Statutory advisory bodies on matters of common interest between states in a zone — economic and social planning, border disputes, inter-state transport, linguistic minorities. The Western Council's agenda has now shifted to monitoring welfare-scheme delivery.
Constitutional-provision body for inquiring into and advising on disputes and subjects of common interest between states and the Union; set up on the Sarkaria Commission's recommendation on centre-state relations.
Statutory advisory and regional planning body for the North Eastern Region; the eight member states are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura — Sikkim was added by the 2002 amendment to the NEC Act.
Framework for prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of cybercrime; runs the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), launched in 2021 for immediate reporting of financial fraud. States were asked to connect all urban cooperative banks to it and to integrate cooperative banks with MuleHunter.AI, the RBI Innovation Hub's mule-account detection tool.
Creates the five Zonal Councils. Section 16(1) sets their composition, with a Union Minister nominated by the President as chairman. The Councils are therefore STATUTORY, not constitutional — the single most tested point about them.
Empowers the President to establish an Inter-State Council whenever it appears that the public interest would be served. It is the source of the Inter-State Council, not of the Zonal Councils.
Constitutes the NEC as a statutory body for the North East, filling the gap left because no Zonal Council covers the region.
Replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860 from 1 July 2024 with 358 sections against the IPC's 511; sedition under IPC Section 124A was replaced by Section 152 BNS. It works alongside the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (replacing CrPC, 1973) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (replacing the Indian Evidence Act, 1872). The Council was asked to lead their implementation.
| Aspect | Zonal Councils | Inter-State Council | North Eastern Council |
|---|---|---|---|
| Created by | States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Part III) | Presidential Order under Article 263 | North Eastern Council Act, 1971 |
| Nature | Statutory | Constitutional provision, set up by executive order | Statutory |
| Chair | A Union Minister nominated by the President (Union Home Minister) | Prime Minister | Union Minister of DoNER, ex officio |
| Coverage | Five zones; the North East is excluded | All states and UTs | Eight North Eastern states |
| Year it began working | 1956-57 | 28 May 1990 | 7 November 1972 |
Recommended a permanent inter-governmental council under Article 263; the Inter-State Council of 1990 is the direct result, and its Secretariat now also services the Zonal Councils.
The Western Region was asked to lead implementation of the new Nyaya Sanhitas — the BNS, BNSS and BSA that replaced the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act on 1 July 2024.
CFCFRMS for citizen reporting, MuleHunter.AI for detecting mule accounts and I4C for coordination form a single chain; the Council's ask was to plug urban cooperative banks into it.
The computerisation of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies is run by the Ministry of Cooperation — the same minister chairs the Council, which is why PACS numbers appear on a Home Ministry agenda.
GS Paper 2 > Polity > Functions and Responsibilities of the Union and the States; Inter-State Relations
Indian Polity > Constitutional and Statutory Bodies
General Awareness > Institutions and Governance
With reference to India, consider the following: I. The Inter-State Council II. The National Security Council III. Zonal Councils How many of the above were established as per the provisions of the Constitution of India?
Answer: Only one
Which Article enables the President to establish an Inter-State Council?
Answer: Article 263
Consider the following statements: Inter-State Council is a constitutional body under Article 263. Its recommendations are binding on the Union and States. Which of the above statements is/are correct?
Answer: Only 1
Arrange the following events in chronological order: 1. Eastern Zonal Council meeting 2022 2. States Reorganisation Act passed 3. First Central Zonal Council meeting
Answer: 2-3-1
The North Eastern Council (NEC) was established... the Council comprises which of the following members? 1. Governor of the Constituent State 2. Chief Minister of the Constituent State 3. Three Members to be nominated by the President of India 4. The Home Minister of India Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 1, 2, 3 and 4
One of five statutory advisory bodies created under Part III of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, chaired by a Union Minister nominated by the President, to discuss matters of common interest among the states of a zone.
Body constituted by Presidential Order on 28 May 1990 under Article 263, chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Union Home Minister as Vice-Chairman.
Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, launched under I4C in 2021 for immediate reporting of financial cyber fraud.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, the village-level tier of the cooperative credit structure, now being computerised under the Ministry of Cooperation.