HUBBALLI  MONDAY  NOVEMBER 30, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 32  CITY EDITION EXPECT HARSHER WINTER IN THE NORTH, WARNS MET DEPT LA NINA BLAMED FOR ABNORMAL CHILL “Below normal minimum temperatures are likely over most subdivisions of north, northwest, central and few subdivisions over east India,” the IMD said in its winter forecast. It blamed it on the prevailing moderate La Nina conditions. La Nina happens when the surface water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean cools. This leads to a drop in global temperature There is also a higher chance of cold wave this winter, the Indian Meteorological Department said on Sunday DELHI TO SEE COLDEST NOVEMBER IN 10 YRS ■ ■ Temperatures in several parts of north India, including Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan, were normal on Sunday Delhi is set to record its coldest November in 10 years. Average minimum temperature in the city from Nov 1 to 29 was 10 degree Celsius. The normal minimum for the month is 12 degrees Celsius 7 degrees CELSIUS WAS DELHI’S MINIMUM TEMPERATURE ON SUNDAY CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI LIBERAL INVOKING OF SEDITION LAW IN BJP-RULED STATES @ New Delhi WHEN the Bombay High Court last week berated the Mumbai Police for slapping sedition charges against actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli, asking “if anybody doesn’t fall within the line of the government, will that be sedition,” it was only underlining the increasing trend of governments to misuse this colonial law. Data maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau, which started collating sedition numbers since 2014, shows that while there were 47 cases registered under Section 124A of the IPC (sedition) that year, it jumped to 93 in 2019, an increase of 98%. While 27 states or Union Territories had not registered a single sedition case in 2014, that number fell to 19 last year, indi-  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019 cating more state governments were willing to charge people under the stringent law. An analysis by this newspaper showed that BJP state governments invoked the law more than non-BJP ones. This is best illustrated by the experience in Karnataka, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. The first two have BJP regimes while J&K is under Central rule. In all the three, there was a spike in sedition cases after they came under BJP rule. In 2019, Karnataka saw the maximum sedition cases ( 22), followed by Assam (17) and J&K (11). Under Congress rule in Karnataka, two cases were filed in 2018; three each in 2015 and 2016; and none in 2014 and 2017. Assam recorded 17 cases each in two consecutive years of 2018 and 2019 — slightly lower than 2017 when it recorded CONTINUED ON: P8 19 cases. 2014: 60 Kashmiri students in UP charged with sedition for cheering Pakistan in a cricket match; charges dropped later Punjab 01 0 000 Himachal Pradesh 101 501 Uttar Pradesh 006  1  0  10 Bihar  16  9  0  0  17  0 Haryana  0  3  12  13  1 2 2014: Seven booked for sedition in Kerala for not standing up during national anthem Delhi 002 011 Gujarat 020 00 CoBRA officer killed, 9 injured in IED blast CM’s political seccy to be discharged today RAIPUR: An officer of the CRPF’s jungle warfare unit CoBRA was killed while nine commandos were injured, after Maoists triggered an IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district on Saturday night. They said the blast took place in the Chintalnar forest area at 9pm. Bengaluru: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s political secretary NR Santosh, who attempted suicide and was being treated at MS Ramaiah Hospital, has recovered, said doctors. He will be discharged today, after which he will be questioned by police. WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST YOUR LIFE COACH 32 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) Maharashtra 010 002 Odisha 201 302 Goa 8.33% 0 0 0 Chhattisgarh  1  0  0  0  3 1 Karnataka  0  3  3  0  2  22 Telangana  0  1  2  0  0  1 Andhra Pradesh  1  0  1  0  1  0 Tamil Nadu  0  0  0  3  1  4 2018: Activist Sudha Bhardwaj and others booked under various charges, including sedition and supporting Maoists; continue to be in jail 2020: Sedition charge slapped on Keralite journalist Siddique Kappan, who was on his way to Hathras to cover the Dalit gang-rape and murder case POLICE in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district registered the first case under the state’s new anti-conversation law on Saturday just hours , after it was promulgated. It was on a complaint filed by a resident of Sharifnagar village, against a young man who allegedly tried to force his daughter to convert to Islam and marry him. The accused, complainant alleged, has been trying to “coerce, coax and allure” his daughter to convert to Islam and marry him. The accused is absconding. Sources said the girl used to frequently complain about the man. Initially she tried , to avoid him fearing disrepute. But when she consistently refused his advances, he threatened to abduct her. The harassment did not stop even after she got married in June. Things got ugly when the man visited the girl’s house on Saturday He pressed her family to bring her . back from her in-laws’ house. When they refused, he threatened to kill them. “He was not listening to us, and was mounting pressure on me and my family through abuses and death threats to fulfil his desire,” the girl’s father alleged. On Saturday night, the father approached the police. A case was soon registered under the provisions of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020. Violation of the code is punishable by a jail term of up to five years and a fine of `15,000. In case the victim is a minor, or someone from SC or ST, the jail sentence could stretch up to 10 years. Govt may allow agri courses at pvt colleges EVEN as the country is wracked by farmers’ protests over controversial farm laws, the Karnataka Government plans to allow private colleges to start agriculture courses in order to meet the increasing demand. With the land reforms Act allowing anyone to purchase land and people going back to villages amid the pandemic, a further increase in demand for agri-related courses is expected, say experts. In Karnataka, there are six universities related to farming — University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru, Dharwad, Shivamogga and Raichur, University of Veterinary Sciences in Bidar and Horticulture university in Bagalkot under which 26 government colleges are offering graduation and post-graduation courses. CONTINUED ON: P5 Say it came with strings; decide to block 3 more entry points to Delhi Jharkhand  18  0  0  1  18  3 INCREASING DEMAND A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ B e n g a l u r u Farmers reject govt proposal West Bengal 24 1 1 04 Madhya Pradesh 002 111 N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow EXPRESS READ Protesting farmers blocking the Singhu border in Delhi on Sunday | PARVEEN NEGI Manipur 01 00 4 1 UP police registers first case under new anti-conversion law Union Home Minister Amit Shah holds a roadshow in Hyderabad’s Warasiguda on Sunday as part of BJP’s campaigning for the December 1 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election | S SENBAGAPANDIYAN Assam 100  19  17  17 Rajasthan 01 1 1 04 2016: JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar charged with sedition for allegedly raising anti-national slogans SHAH’S HYDERABAD SHOW Arunachal Pradesh 000 000 Nagaland Tripura  0  0 00 00 00 08 00 Kerala 53394 SOME PROMINENT CASES 2012: Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi booked for allegedly mocking national emblem in his cartoon; charges dropped after nationwide outrage Jammu & Kashmir 0101  12  11 TO FEW FOR TOO MANY NAME OF UNIVERSITY NO. OF GOVT COLLEGES UAS, Bengaluru 4 UAS, Dharwad 3 UAS,Raichur 3 UAS, Shivamogga 1 UHS, Bagalkot 8 K’taka Veterinary Animal & Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar 7 Source: NCRB 2014-2019 SANA SHAKIL/RITWIKA MITRA NUMBERS SAY IT ALL H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh REFUSING to accept Union home minister Amit Shah’s offer to re-locate to the Burari grounds in north Delhi to begin the talks process, Punjab farmers on Sunday continued to say put on the Delhi border, attacking the proposal for having preconditions. While the far mers have parked themselves on the Singhu and Tikri borders, they decided to block three more entry points into Delhi —Ballabgarh, Daruhera and Hapur. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla wrote to the 32 protesting farmers’ unions in Hindi on Saturday citing the winter chill and the fear of a spike in Covid cases because of the massing, to persuade them to shift to Burari. Once they relocate, a team of Union minis- ters will hold talks with them at Vigyan Bhavan, the letter said, but it failed to get traction. Shah’s offer was unanimously rejected at a meeting of all 32 Punjab farmers unions at the Singhu border. “We are ready for talks, but the Union Government should not impose any precondition,” the leaders said. “Instead of going to the ‘open jail’ in Burari, we have decided to lay siege to Delhi by blocking all five main entry points into the national Capital. As we have ration of four months, we are prepared for a long haul,” they said, adding no representative of any political party would be allowed to speak from their platform. Later, Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar got into a huddle at BJP chief J P Nadda’s house. Protest in B’luru today EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @Bengaluru FARMERS and members of dalit and workers’ organisations in Karnataka will stage a protest in Bengaluru on Monday, joining cause with the thousands protesting at the gates of Delhi against the Centre’s farm Bills. They have also planned a prolonged protest when the state legislature meets for the winter session from December 7. Karnataka farmers are opposing the Centre’s farm bills and also the State’s move to amend the Karnataka Land Reforms Act and APMC Act. P4