HYDERABAD  FRIDAY  JANUARY 24, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 36  LATE CITY EDITION INDIAN REPRESENTATION CONFIRMED AT OSCARS 2025 AS ANUJA GETS NOD A LIEN, I’M NOT A ROBOT AMONG COMPETITORS Anuja, a short film set in New Delhi, bagged a nomination in the Live Action Short category at the 97th Academy Awards on Thursday MONGA, PRIYANKA EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Anuja tells the story of a gifted nine-year-old, who must make a choice between education and factory work. Directed by Adam J Graves and Suchitra Mattai, the film stars Sajda Pathan and Ananya Shanbhag. Other nominees for the Live Action Short category are: A Lien, I’m Not a Robot, The Last Ranger, and The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent ■ ■ Anuja has two-time Oscar winning producer Guneet Monga on board as executive producer. Recently, actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas also boarded the project as an executive producer The film is produced by NGO Salaam Baalak Trust, which supports street children, along with Shine Global, and Krushan Naik Films March 2 WHEN THE 2025 ACADEMY AWARDS CEREMONY WILL BE HELD IN LOS ANGELES 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 5,300 YRS AGO IRON AGE BEGAN ON TAMIL SOIL, SAYS CM, CITES SCIENTIFIC PROOF T M U R U G A N A N D H A M @ Chennai CHIEF Minister M K Stalin on Thursday, based on the results of scientific dating of archaeological samples, declared that iron was used in the present Tamil-speaking region even in the mid third to fourth millennia, thereby pushing the Iron Age period back by around two millennia. The results establish that iron was used in the region over 5,300 years ago, he said. Releasing the report titled, ‘Antiquity of Iron: Recent Radiometric Dates from Tamil Nadu’ in Chennai, Stalin said he was making the remarkable anthropological announcement, not only to India but to the whole world, that the “Iron Age began on Tamil soil”. The results were based on samples sent from various archaeological sites including Sivagalai in Thoothukudi district, Adichanallur in Tirunelveli district, Mayiladumparai in Krishnagiri district to three renowned laboratories — Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow; Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; and Beta Analytic Lab, Florida, USA. While the samples were sent to Indian labs for Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) analysis, the samples from the same sites were sent for radiometric analysis to the Beta Analytic Lab in Florida. Similar results have been received from all the three labs. Stalin said the state’s Archaeology Department has established through chronometric dating that smelting technology to extract iron from ore was first introduced in the Tamil landscape. “This is a pride for the Tamil race, Tamil Nadu and the Tamil landscape,” the CM said. 3 5 4 2 CURRENT GLOBAL CONSENSUS REGARDING SITES AND SAMPLES SENT 1 IRON AGE 1 Swords Sivagalai (Thoothukudi): Charcoal samples collected from urn burials with iron objects in the habitation mound called Valappalanpillai-thiradu. Three samples have been dated to 2953 BCE, 3259 BCE and 3345 BCE 2 Anchor hook Adichanallur (Tirunelveli): Samples associated with an iron object were dated to 2517-2513 BCE Iron metal production from ore is believed to have begun in the mid-2nd millennium BCE. Iron Age is so far believed to have started in Anatolia and the Caucasus around late 2nd millennium BCE (~1300 BCE), with the transition occurring in the Ancient Near East during the 12th century BCE (1200–1100 BCE) IRON AGE PERIOD IN VARIOUS REGIONS 900 800 BCE in BCE in China 3 THE state government will raise `600 crore by auctioning open plots in the Uppal Bhagayat Layout to fund land acquisition for the 7.5 km Old City Metro corridor, from Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) to Chandrayangutta. For 1,100 properties, the total cost of land acquisition is estimated at `1,000 crore, which includes `525 crore for land acquisition — `150 crore for rehabilitation and resettlement and `325 crore for structural compensation. In addition to the land acquisition costs, another `175 crore will be required for other expenses such as demolition of structures (`40 crore), utility shifting (`60 crore) and road widening (`75 crore). The state government has allocated `500 crore in the Budget for the Old City Metro Rail project. The remaining funds will be generated through the auction of open plots in Uppal Central Northern Northern and Europe Scandinavian Western Europe Europe Samples discovered from various archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu, which were sent for dating, have revealed that iron objects found here dated to 3345 BCE and 2172 BCE. This pushes the current Iron Age period back by at least around two millennia 4 Mangadu (Thelunganur) in Salem: Iron sword dating back to 1263 BCE found 5 Kilnamandi (Tiruvannamalai): Age of iron objects found in the site falls between 1769 BCE and 1615 BCE WHERE WERE THE SAMPLES TESTED? Iron sword Birbal Sahani Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow; Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad & Beta Analytic, Florida, USA Graves Aerial view of Iron Age graves at Mayiladumparai State to auction open plots to fund Old City Metro land acquisition S B A C H A N J E E T S I N G H @ Hyderabad 500 BCE in WHAT DO THE NEW FINDINGS IN TN SAY? Mayiladumparai (Krishnagiri): Samples of iron objects dated to 2172 BCE Iron objects 600 BCE in Bhagayat by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). The auction is expected to commence soon. Sources said the Old City Elevated Metro Corridor, initially planned as part of the first phase, faced numerous delays due to alignment disputes and challenges in acquiring properties. The 7.5 km extension will connect Shalibanda, Falaknuma and Chandrayangutta. Road widening works for the extension began this week, including the demolition of structures, primarily shops, in Moghalpura and Kotla Ali Jah on Tuesday . Land compensation was initially set at `60,000 per square yard but increased to `81,000 per square yard following a request from Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. To preserve over 100 religious, heritage and other sensitive structures along the proposed route, the HMRL has devised engineering solutions to avoid any impact on these structures. TG attracts `1.78 lakh crore in investments at Davos With `60K cr outlay, AWS tops charts, followed by Sun Petro (`45K cr) @ Hyderabad THE TelanganaRising delegation, led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, concluded its trip to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos on Thursday by signing MoUs with several companies which have proposed to invest a combined `1,78,950 crore. These massive investment commitments have the potential to create 49,550 jobs in the state. The biggest individual proposed investments include `60,000 crore from Amazon Web Services (AWS) followed by `45,500 crore from Sun Petrochemicals and `15,000 crore each from Tillman Global Holdings and Megha Engineering. Among the software companies with whom the state delegation signed MoUs is HCLTech which proposed to create 5,000 jobs, while Infosys said it would accommodate 10,000 employees in its upcoming new campus at Pocharam in Hyderabad and would ramp up the workforce by 7,000 more later. Another IT giant Wipro also unveiled its plans to add 5,000 jobs in the state. Data centres were a major focus area, yielding rich dividends for Telangana. Amazon, E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad A representative of Navayuga Engineering Company (NEC) informed the Commission of Inquiry on the Kaleshwaram project that the state government did not sign the operation and maintenance (O&M) contract after the completion certificate was issued for the Sundilla barrage. Deposing before the one-man Commission, headed by Justice PC Ghose, NEC director Y Ramesh said defects in the designs might have caused dam- E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi CARS TO COST MORE FROM FEBRUARY 1|P10 EXPRESS READ Cheque bounce case: RGV gets 3 months in jail Mumbai: A local court convicted filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma and sentenced him to three months of simple imprisonment in a seven-year-old cheque bounce case. He was directed to pay `3.72 lakh to the complainant within three months, failing which he will face another three months of imprisonment | P5 Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy meets Michael Punke, vice-president of Global Public Policy of AWS, during the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland Tillman, Ursa Clusters, CtrlS and Sify announced plans for new facilities and expansions. The state also achieved breakthroughs in cutting-edge sectors such as solar cell manufacturing, rocket manufacturing, aircraft interior design and UAV production. Defence investments by Jindal was another feather in the state’s cap. Another big highlight of Revanth’s Davos visit was securing investments in private industrial parks. The Ramky Group decided to invest in integrated industrial parks, a dry port and townships, while the MTS Group also committed significant investments. The state made pioneering strides in agriculture-focused industries, Company/ Group Amazon Web Services Sun Petrochemicals Tillman Global Holdings Megha Engineering CtrlS Sify Technologies Mytrah Energy Phoenix Ramky Group Ursa Clusters JCK Group JSW Group Skyroot Aerospace Agility Total Investment ( in ` cr) 60,000 45,500 15,000 15,000 10,000 10,000 7,000 5,000 5,000 4,500 4,500 800 500 400 1,78,950 with Unilever giving the green light for two manufacturing units and several other companies expressing interest. Green energy and pump storage were identified as sectors w i t h s i g n i f i c a n t g r ow t h potential. A key achievement of the visit was the chief minister’s presentation of his vision for TelanganaRising 2050 to global investors, entrepreneurs, thinkers and policymakers, which received widespread endorseCONTINUED ON P4 ment. Defects in design may have damaged Sundilla: Navayuga Notices to Ola, Uber over price disparity MARUTI DATASPEAK M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY THE Centre has issued notices to Ola and Uber over complaints that they were charging different prices from customers depending on whether the booking was from an iPhone or an Android smartphone. The notices were issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a regulatory body under the Union consumer affairs ministry . “ a follow-up to the earlier observation As of apparent differential pricing based on the different models of mobiles (iPhones/ Android) being used, Department of Consumer Affairs through the CCPA, has issued notices to major cab aggregators Ola and Uber, seeking their responses,” said Prakhar Joshi, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution & New and Renewable Energy on social me, dia platform X. When contacted, an Uber spokesperson said the platform does not set prices based on the operating system of the consumer’s phone. “We look forward to working with the Central Consumer Protection Authority to clear up any misunderstanding.” Ola is yet to comment. The development comes after a large number of consumers pointed out that the ride-hailing apps were showing higher prices on iPhones compared to Android smartphones. The Centre has sent a notice to Apple to respond to the technical issues reported by iPhone users after a recent update. age to the piers of the Sundilla barrage. Ramesh also noted that even after issuing the completion certificate, the government had not cleared the company’s final bills. When the Commission enquired about the steps taken by the company after the damage to the piers, Ramesh said they carried out repair works as suggested by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) after major floods in 2022. He added that while NEC employees were stationed at the barrage sites, no a c t iv i t y w a s c u r re n t ly underway . The project in-charges of NEC, K Eshwara Rao and Chintha Madhav, also deposed before the Commission. However, the Commission observed that all the affidavits filed by the three representatives of NEC were identical, appearing to be ‘stencil cut and verbatim’. Justice Ghose commented that the other two representatives of NEC followed their director and copied the same content into their affidavits.