Amit Shah to Lead 25th Central Zonal Council Meet in Varanasi on June 24
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah will chair the 25th meeting of the Central Zonal Council on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The gathering will bring together Chief Ministers of the member states—Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh—along with senior ministers and top bureaucrats.
This important event is being organized by the Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The Central Zonal Council serves as a vital platform for addressing inter-state and Centre-state matters affecting the region.
The Zonal Councils were set up under the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 and are chaired by the Union Home Minister. Member states are represented by their Chief Ministers and nominated ministers, with a permanent committee of Chief Secretaries handling issue preparation in advance of full meetings.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has strongly advocated for cooperative and competitive federalism, recognizing that strong states form the foundation of a strong nation. The Zonal Councils embody this philosophy by fostering dialogue, coordination, and mutual understanding.
In the last eleven years, 61 meetings of the various Zonal Councils and their permanent committees have been convened, playing a key role in resolving regional challenges and sharing best practices across states and ministries.
The councils also deliberate on major national issues such as speedy investigation and trial of crimes against women and children, banking infrastructure for villages, emergency response systems (like ERSS-112), and regional initiatives in health, education, power, urban planning, and the cooperative sector.
Source: PIB
