The central government has reconstituted the inter-state council, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as chairman and chief ministers of all states and six Union cabinet ministers as members, in order to promote and support cooperative federalism in the country.

Ten Union ministers will also be permanent invitees to the inter-state council, according to an official notification issued last week. The government has also reconstituted the council’s standing committee, with Amit Shah, the home minister, as its chairman.

Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Virendra Kumar, Hardeep Singh Puri, Nitin Gadkari, S Jaishankar, Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, Dhamendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kiren Rijiju, and Bhupender Yadav are among the Union ministers

The inter-state council is a consultative body with the authority to investigate and discuss topics of common interest between the Union and state(s), or between states, to make recommendations for better policy and action coordination on these topics, and to deliberate on matters of general interest to the states as referred to it by its chairman. It also considers other matters of general interest to the states that the chairman may refer.

The council’s mandate is to establish a strong institutional framework to promote and support cooperative federalism in the country, as well as to keep the council and zonal councils active by holding regular meetings.

It also enables the zonal councils and inter-state council to consider all pending and emerging issues of Centre-state and inter-state relations, as well as develop a sound system to monitor the implementation of their recommendations.

Amit Shah (chairman) and Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Virendra Kumar, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will make up the standing committee of the inter-state council, according to a separate notification from the Union home ministry.

Members of the council’s standing committee include the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.

The standing committee will hold ongoing consultations and process matters for consideration by the council, as well as process all matters relating to Centre-state relations before they are brought before the council for consideration.

If necessary, the committee may consult with experts and experts in specific fields, as well as deliberate on related topics.

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