Allahabad High Court quashes UP government orders notifying 18 OBCs as Scheduled Castes
Prayagraj(PTI): The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday quashed the Uttar Pradesh government orders which included 18 other backward classes (OBC) in the list of scheduled castes.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice JJ Munir allowed a public interest litigation that challenged the notifications issued in 2016 and 2019.
The PIL was filed by Dr. BR Ambedkar Granthalaya Evam Jan Kalyan, Gorakhpur and others.
The then Akhilesh Yadav government issued a notification on December 22, 2016, which provided for the inclusion of 18 OBC castes in the SC category.
However, the High Court put a ban on the issuance of SC certificates to these 18 OBC castes on January 24, 2017.
This was followed by another such notification by the Yogi Adityanath government on June 24, 2019 but the High Court intervened again and put a restriction on the process.
The SP government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav had issued a similar order in 2005 but it was stayed by the Allahabad High Court.
Two years later, the Mayawati government quashed the order but subsequently wrote to the central government extending her support for it.
Attacking the BJP on the HC decision, Samajwadi Party said that the reservation to the 18 most backward communities got cancelled due to ineffective action by the BJP government in court.
"SP President Shri Akhilesh Yadav had fulfilled his promise to include 18 most backward castes in the Scheduled Castes, which was rejected by the BJP's central government.
"Now the reservation has got cancelled due to poor handling of the case by the BJP's Yogi Adityanath government and due to lack of support from the BJP government at the Centre," the party said in a tweet in Hindi from its official Twitter handle.
"BJP also gave lollipops to these castes but did not keep its promise. This is a complete betrayal of those of the 18 most backward castes. Where are those BJP leaders who do politics of backward castes and the leaders of their allies? An answer is needed from the BJP government for its anti-backward step," he said.
The castes which the respective SP and Yogi governments intended to include in the SC category were - Majhwar, Kahar, Kashyap, Kevat, Mallah, Nishad, Kumhar, Prajapati, Dheevar, Bind, Bhar, Rajbhar, Dhiman, Batham, Turha, Godia, Manjhi and Machchhua.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
