tn TOPs fssai’s food safety index Tamil Nadu was placed in the 3rd place in 2020-21 FSSAI rankings. Gujarat, which was No 1 in the previous index, has slipped to the second slot in 2021-22. Tamil Nadu was at 3rd place in 2020-21 rankings. Gujarat, which was No 1 in the previous index, has slipped to the second slot in 2021-22. Telangana’s ranking has fallen from 9 to 15, while Andhra moved from 19th to 17th rank. Karnataka remains at the 9th position. P9 bengaluru l wednesday l june 8, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Naveen to be first CM to meet Pope in Vatican Green light tied to BJD votes in Presidential polls? Centre earlier denied Didi a chance S h a h i d F a r i d i @ New Delhi Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik is likely to become India’s first chief minister to meet the Pope, head of Catholic Christians around the world. Patnaik is set to embark on a week-long foreign tour in the last week of this month. His first stop will be Dubai, where he is scheduled to attend an investors’ meet. From Dubai, he will proceed to Rome in Italy to meet some more potential investors. Sources said efforts are being made to facilitate the chief minister’s meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican City during his visit to Italy . This is Patnaik’s first visit abroad in the last 10 years, and second since he took over as the chief minister of the state. It is reliably learnt that the chief minister’s office has received all clearances from the Central government for his foreign trip. The Union government had last year denied permission to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to attend a World Peace Conference in Rome. The conference was to be attended by Pope Francis, among others. Following the denial of permission, Mamata’s Trinamool Congress Party had accused the Centre of playing “vindictive politics”. Mamata, too, said: “how many places will you (Centre) not let me visit? You can’t stop me forever.” The government, while denying the permission, said that the “event is not commensurate in status for participation by the chief minister.” Sources said the Union government cleared Patnaik’s trip without much ado as the ruling National Democratic Alliance-led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP may need the support of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the Presidential election scheduled for next month. BJD has a sizable presence in the Presidential electoral college. Patnaik had to cut short his trip to London in 2012 as his trusted lieutenant Pyarimohan Mohapatra had tried to rally the support of BJD MLAs and overthrow the CM in his absence. Patnaik managed to put down the revolt. He has not left the country ever since. Top Hizb-Ul commander from J&K held in Bengaluru Bala Chauhan @Bengaluru A top militant commander of the banned terrorist organisation Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) - Tariq alias Talib Hussain Gujjar was held last week in the City by the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) police with logistic support of Bengaluru city police. According to sources, Tariq alias Talib Hussain a resident of Nagaseni Tehsil, Kishtwar district has been reportedly identified by the investigating officer as a ‘Hizbul-A’ category terrorist. He was arrested by the J&K police from Kishtwar on June 5. Talib had fled J&K and taken refuge in Bengaluru City a couple of years ago. He was living in the premises of a mosque in Okalipuram in Srirampura in Bengaluru North from where he was “picked up for questioning by the J&K police last week,” said sources. Talib was working for a courier company as a cargo loader and had maintained a low profile in the City “Talib had left . behind his first wife in J&K and had married another Kashmiri girl with who he was living in Bengaluru. After he was detained she also left for her home town on her own,” added the sources. There are no details of when Talib came to Bengaluru. “No one, including his neighbours knew about his militant background,” added sources. “ J & K p o l i c e h a d ap proached the city police for locating a terror suspect named Tariq. He was located and detained for questioning,” they added. “Tariq was later identified as Talib Hussain - a ‘Hizbul-A’ category terrorist - after the J&K police searched his premises in Kishtwar, following which, he was arrested there,” said sources.  CONTINUED ON: P5 Officer pool to select CDS from just got bigger M AYAN K S IN G H @ New Delhi a piece of moon in b’luru Welcome to the IT Capital of India. Vehicles negotiate through the pothole-ridden Bengaluru-Mysuru NICE Road junction | Shriram BN The basket of candidates to pick the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) got a bit wider on Tuesday with the defence ministry notifying its decision to allow serving and retired Lieutenant Generals, Air Marshals and Vice Admirals to enter the race, apart from the serving tri-services chiefs. It, however, inserted an age cap of 62 years for eligibility . With the new rules in place, the process to appoint the CDS is expected to gain momentum. The post has been lying vacant ever since the untimely death of first CDS General Bipin Rawat in an air crash in December last year. The rules that were changed on Monday and notified the following day said: “The Central Government may if , , considered necessary in public interest, so to do, appoint , as Chief of Defence Staff, an officer who is serving as Air Marshal or Air Chief Marshal or an officer who has retired in the rank of Air Marshal or Air Chief Marshal but has not attained the age of sixty-two years on the date of his appointment.” Similar notifications were issued for both the Army and the Navy . express read Hoax threat to RSS offices, security up Bengaluru: One person has been arrested in Tamil Nadu on charges of threatening to attack four offices of RSS in Karnataka, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said on Tuesday. The arrested person has claimed that he would destroy four RSS offices in Karnataka and two in Uttar Pradesh. P4 PU II textbook revision committee dissolved Bengaluru: Primary Minister B C Nagesh said on Tuesday that the state government has dissolved the committee, led by Rohit Chakrathirtha, for 2nd PUC textbook revision. The committee had recommended revision of chapter 4.2 (Birth of New Religions) in the second PUC social science textbook. P4