Above the fold: Top stories of the day
1. Rajasthan has passed a bill granting 14% reservation to economically depressed classes, striking at the root of India’s reservation system that has until now been based on caste.
2. India wants Nepal to amend its brand new constitution in order to address Madhesi fears.
3. Prime Minister Modi embarks on a big-ticket foreign tour, heading to the United States with a stopover in Ireland.
4. Somnath Bharti is an “embarrassment” to the government, should surrender says Arvind Kejriwal.
5. Gujarat HC issued a notice to the Gujarat state government seeking the location of Hardik Patel even as Patel’s colleagues claim he has been detained by the Gujarat police illegally.
6. Begun in 2009, the trail in the Gulbarga Society Massacre in Ahmedabad in 2002 has concluded with the verdict now awaited from the court.

The Big Story: Big Brother is reading
Reacting to a social media storm that its contentious draft encryption policy had set off, the government backtracked hastily. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the document was not the final view of the government and was placed in public domain just to seek comments and suggestions.

Published on Monday, the draft encryption policy contained a draconian condition that required citizens to store messages sent through telecom devices for 90 days and be prepared to produce them before law enforcement agencies should they want to see them.

Its original plan tried to police all digitally encrypted information, which also included personal emails. While the outrage and strong symbolism of the authorities reading personal messages has forced the government to exclude mobile messaging services and social media platforms as well as Internet-banking and e-commerce gateways, there is a fear that it might yet lead to a new registration raj in India in which all encryption technologies will need to be certified and listed by bureaucrats. The unintended consequence of this bizarre policy might mean a sharp drop in the adoption of encryption for Indian users as foreign companies will give the Indian market a miss and Indian companies might simply stop encrypting data to steer clear of the extra policing.

This furore comes just before Prime Minister’s Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley. The public relations fallout of this policy just before Modi’s high profile visit to the tech hub might have played its hand in the government’s quick withdrawal.

The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day’s biggest story
Saikat Datta writes that Indians must resist the Modi government's planned surveillance system since government plans to directly access phone and internet communications without the restriction of a privacy law could put citizen rights in jeopardy.

Politicking & Policying
1. Mayawati feels that the Central Bureau of Investigation is being used a political tool against her by the Centre.
2. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has defended the sudden transfer of Mumbai Police chief Rakesh Maria and denied it had any link with the Sheena Bora murder probe.

Punditry
1. Ironically, the Rashtriya Swamaysevak Sangh take its inspiration from Western  social sciences, points out Christophe Jaffrelot in the Indian Express.
2. In the Hindu, Pulapre Balakrishnan points out that Narendra Modi’s foreign policy dreams in the US are quite unrealistic.
3. India’s economic team must get less conservative and improve co-ordination if they are to make an impact, writes Ajay Chhibber in the Business Standard.