PIB Analysis : 3rd and 4th September 2022

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Hyderabad Liberation Day
2. Zonal Councils
3. Facts for Prelims

1 . Hyderabad Liberation Day

Context : Ministry of Culture will organize the  inaugural programme of the year-long commemoration of the Hyderabad Liberation Day, on 17^th  September 2022. The Government of India has approved the yearlong commemoration of the “Hyderabad Liberation Day” for the period 17^th  September, 2022 to 17^th  September,2023.

About Year long commemoration

• The year-long commemoration is aimed at paying tribute to all those who gave  their live  for the liberation of Samsthan and its merger with the India Union.
• On 17th September 1948, more than one  year after India secured Independence from the British, the state of Hyderabad got its independence from  Nizam’s rule.
• History is replete with illustrations of  struggles  in the entire freedom movement including the struggle of Ramji Gond against the British; the fight of Komaram Bheem; the valour of Turrebaz Khan in 1857 who wanted to hoist the Indian national flag on the residence of the British Resident Commissioner at Koti in Hyderabad city.
• The struggle became vociferous after Indian independence.With the spontaneous participation of people chanting Vande Matram and with the demand of the merger of the samsthan into the Indian union, the struggle transformed itself into a massive people’s movement.
• The liberation of Hyderabad was possible due to the swift and timely action by  first Minister of Home Affairs  of India, Shri Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under Operation Polo.
• The state of Hyderabad under the Nizam included the whole of current day Telangana, the Marathwada region in Maharashtra that included the districts of Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani and  districts of Kalaburagi ,Bellary Raichur ,Yadgir, Koppal, Vijayanagara and Bidar in  current day Karnataka.
• The state governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka officially observe September 17 as the Liberation Day.

2 . Zonal Councils

Context : The Union Minister for Home and Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, chaired the 30th Southern Zonal Council meeting in Thiruvananthapuram today.

Background

• The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1956 when during the course of debate on the report of the States Re-organisation Commission, he suggested that the States proposed to be reorganised may be grouped into four or five zones having an Advisory Council ‘to develop the habit of cooperative working” among these States.
• This suggestion was made by Pandit Nehru at a time when linguistic hostilities and bitterness as a result of re-organisation of the States on linguistic pattern were threatening the very fabric of our nation.
• As an antidote to this situation, it was suggested that a high level advisory forum should be set up to minimise the impact of these hostilities and to create healthy inter-State and Centre-State environment with a view to solving inter-State problems and fostering balanced socio economic development of the respective zones

Composition of the Council

In the light of the vision of Pandit Nehru, five Zonal Councils were set up vide Part-III of the States Re-organisation Act, 1956. The present composition of each of these Zonal Councils is as under:

• The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh;
• The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh;
• The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal;
• The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli;
• The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Meghalaya and (vii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972. The State of Sikkim has also been included in the North Eastern Council vide North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act

Committees of Zonal Council

• Each Zonal Council has set up a Standing Committee consisting of Chief Secretaries of the member States of their respective Zonal Councils.
• These Standing Committees meet from time to time to resolve the issues or to do necessary ground work for further meetings of the Zonal Councils.
• Senior Officers of the Planning Commission and other Central Ministries are also associated with the meetings depending upon necessity.

Organisational Structure

• Chairman – The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
• Vice Chairman – The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
• Members– Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
• Advisers– One person nominated by the Planning Commission for each of the Zonal Councils, Chief Secretaries and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone
• Union Ministers are also invited to participate in the meetings of Zonal Councils depending upon necessity.

Role & Objectives

• The Zonal Councils provide an excellent forum where irritants between Centre and States and amongst States can be resolved through free and frank discussions and consultations. Being advisory bodies, there is full scope for free and frank exchange of views in their meetings.
• Though there are a large number of other fora like the National Development Council, Inter State Council, Governor’s/Chief Minister’s Conferences and other periodical high level conferences held under the auspices of the Union Government, the Zonal Councils are different, both in content and character
• They are regional fora of cooperative endeavour for States linked with each other economically, politically and culturally.
• Being compact high level bodies, specially meant for looking after the interests of respective zones, they are capable of focusing attention on specific issues taking into account regional factors, while keeping the national perspective in view.

Main objectives of setting up of Zonal Councils

• Bringing out national integration;
• Arresting the growth of acute State consciousness, regionalism, linguism and particularistic tendencies;
• Enabling the Centre and the States to co-operate and exchange ideas and experiences;
• Establishing a climate of co-operation amongst the States for successful and speedy execution of development projects.

Functions

• Each Zonal Council is an advisory body and may discuss any matter in which some or all of the States represented in that Council, or the Union and one or more of the States represented in that Council, have a common interest and advise the Central Government and the Government of each State concerned as to the action to be taken on any such matter.

Zonal Council may discuss, and make recommendations with regard to:

• any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning;
• any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-State transport;
• any matter connected with or arising out of, the re-organization of the States under the States Reorganisation Act.

3 . Facts for Prelims

National Awards to Teachers

• The National Awards to Teachers accords public recognition to meritorious teachers working in elementary and secondary schools. For the award this year, 45 teachers from across the country have been selected through a rigorous and transparent online three stage process.
• The purpose of National Awards to Teachers is to celebrate and honour the unique contribution of some of the finest teachers in the country who through their commitment and hard work have not only improved the quality of school education but also enriched the lives  of their students.

INS Satpura

•  Built at Mazagaon Docks Ltd, Mumbai, and commissioned on 20 August 2011, INS Satpura derives her name from the majestic Satpura mountain range in central India.
• A frontline warship of the Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam, INS Satpura is currently on one of the longest deployments by the Indian Navy in the 75th year of India’s Independence.