Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah will chair the 25th meeting of the Central Zonal Council on Tuesday, June 24, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The meeting, organized by the Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Government of Uttar Pradesh, will bring together key policymakers from the central and state governments.
Chief Ministers of the member states—Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh—along with two senior ministers from each state, will participate in the meeting. The Chief Secretaries and other senior officials of these states, as well as representatives from central ministries, will also be in attendance.
The Central Zonal Council is one of the five Zonal Councils established under Sections 15 to 22 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. These councils were created to foster cooperation and coordination between states and the Centre. The Union Home Minister serves as the chairperson of all five councils, while the Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors, or Administrators of the member states and Union Territories act as members. Each year, the Chief Minister of one member state is appointed vice-chairperson on a rotational basis, and two ministers are nominated by the Governor of each member state.
To streamline discussions, each Zonal Council has a permanent committee at the level of Chief Secretaries. State-proposed issues are first examined by this committee before being brought to the full council meeting for further deliberation.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Zonal Councils have evolved from purely advisory bodies into key forums for dialogue and cooperation. The Prime Minister has consistently emphasized the importance of both cooperative and competitive federalism in driving the all-round development of the nation. These councils have thus become effective platforms for discussing and resolving inter-state and Centre-state issues.
In the past eleven years, 61 meetings of the various Zonal Councils and their permanent committees have been held, reflecting growing cooperation among state governments and central departments.
The councils have also addressed matters of national importance, such as ensuring the swift investigation and resolution of sexual offense cases against women and children, including the implementation of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSC). Other key issues include expanding access to banking services in every village, the rollout of the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS-112), and regional priorities like improving nutrition, health, education, electricity access, urban planning, and strengthening the cooperative sector.