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Indian PolityMedium

The Zonal Councils in India were created by which of the following?

  1. A.An order of the President under Article 263
  2. B.The States Reorganisation Act, 1956
  3. C.The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution
  4. D.A resolution of the Planning Commission

Correct answer

B. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956

Explanation

The correct answer is B, the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. The five Zonal Councils were set up by this Act, which also reorganised the States on a linguistic basis, and they are therefore statutory bodies rather than constitutional ones. Their purpose was to check the regionalism that linguistic reorganisation had sharpened and to make neighbouring States discuss planning, border issues, linguistic minorities and transport together. Option A describes the Inter-State Council of 1990, which is a different body and rests on Article 263. Option C is wrong because the Seventh Schedule only distributes legislative subjects into the Union, State and Concurrent Lists; it creates no body. Option D is wrong because the Planning Commission was itself an executive body created by a cabinet resolution in 1950 and had no power to create the Zonal Councils, though a nominee of the planning body sits in them as an adviser.

Read the full article: Inter-State Relations and Zonal Councils: Articles and PYQs

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Practice Questions

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Q1.Indian PolityEasy

The Inter-State Council can be established by the President under which article of the Constitution?

  1. A.Article 261
  2. B.Article 262
  3. C.Article 263
  4. D.Article 280
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 263

Article 263 empowers the President to establish by order an Inter-State Council if it appears to him that the public interest would be served by it, and it lists the Council duties: inquiring into and advising upon disputes between States, investigating and discussing subjects of common interest to the Union…

Q2.Indian PolityEasy

Who acts as the chairman of each of the five Zonal Councils?

  1. A.The Prime Minister
  2. B.The Union Home Minister
  3. C.The senior-most Governor of the zone
  4. D.The Chief Minister of the largest State of the zone
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Union Home Minister

The States Reorganisation Act makes the Union Home Minister the common chairman of all five Zonal Councils, so that the Centre and the States of a zone meet under one presiding officer.

Q4.Indian PolityMedium

Full faith and credit is to be given throughout the territory of India to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of the Union and the States under which article?

  1. A.Article 256
  2. B.Article 261
  3. C.Article 301
  4. D.Article 131
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Article 261

This article makes the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of the Union and of every State valid and provable everywhere in India, and it declares that the final judgments and orders of civil courts in any part of India may be executed anywhere in the country.

Q5.Indian PolityHard

The Inter-State Council set up in 1990 followed the recommendation of which commission?

  1. A.The Punchhi Commission
  2. B.The Sarkaria Commission
  3. C.The Rajamannar Committee
  4. D.The Dhar Commission
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Sarkaria Commission

Appointed in 1983 under Justice R. S. Sarkaria to review Centre-State relations, it submitted its report in 1988 and pressed for a permanent Inter-State Council under Article 263; the Council was created by a presidential order in 1990.