Indian representation confirmed at Oscars 2025 as Anuja gets nod Anuja a short film set in Delhi, bagged a nomination in the Live Action Short category at the 97th Academy Awards on Thursday. Anuja tells the story of a gifted nineyear-old, who must make a choice between education and factory work. Directed by Adam J Graves and Suchitra Mattai, it stars Sajda Pathan and Ananya Shanbhag chennai l friday l january 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 40 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 5,300 yrs ago Iron Age began on tamil soil, says CM, cites scientific proof 3 5 4 2 Swords Current global consensus regarding Sites and samples sent 1 Iron age 1 Sivagalai (Thoothukudi): Iron swords collected from urns in the habitation mound called Valappalanpillai-thiradu. Three samples have been dated to 2953 BCE, 3259 BCE and 3345 BCE 2 Adichanallur (Tirunelveli): Samples of iron object 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 600 BCE in 500 BCE in Central Northern Northern and Europe Scandinavian Western Europe Europe 3 4 Anchor hook What do the new findings in TN say? The samples have been dated to 3345 BCE and 2172 BCE. This pushes the current Iron Age period back by at least two millennia Mayiladumparai (Krishnagiri): Samples of iron objects dated to 2172 BCE Mangadu (Salem): Iron sword dating back to 1263 BCE found 5 Iron objects Kilnamandi (Tiruvannamalai): Age of iron objects found in the site falls between 1769 BCE and 1615 BCE Where were the samples tested? Birbal Sahani Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow; Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad & Beta Analytic, Florida, USA 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 from archaeological sites including Sivagalai in Thoothukudi, Adichanallur in Tirunelveli, Mayiladumparai in Krishnagiri sent to three renowned laboratories — Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow; Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; and Beta Analytic, Florida, USA. While the samples were sent to Indian labs for Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) analysis, the samples were sent for radiometric analysis to Beta Analytic in Florida. Similar results have been received from all the three labs. Stalin said the TN’s archaeology unit has established through chronometric dating that smelting technology to extract iron from ore was first used in Tamil landscape. “This is a pride for the Tamil race, and the landscape,” he said.  P2 Central govt scraps auction of tungsten block in Arittapatti E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai The union government on Thursday announced the annulment of the auction of Tamil Nadu’s Nayakkarpatti tungsten mineral block, which is near the Arittapatti biodiversity site and a number of cultural heritage spots, in Madurai district. The announcement came after widespread, sustained protests by the local community and unanimous opposition to the project from all TN political parties. The Tamil Nadu Assembly had also passed a resolution urging the centre to scrap the project. On Wednesday, representatives of the local communities from Madurai had also met union mines minister G Kishan Reddy in New Delhi, in the presence of BJP state president K Annamalai and a few other leaders, and urged him to can- cel the sale of the block. The mining right was auctioned to Hindustan Zinc Limited, a subsidiary of the Vedanta group, in November 2024. The union government, in a statement, said the decision was taken after detailed deliberations, considering the importance of the biodiversity heritage site and commitment of the Government of India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, towards protecting traditional rights. Reacting to the announcement, Chief Minister M K Stalin said the centre has yielded to the people’s sentiments and the state government’s determination. Stating that the centre should not hold such auctions without the consent of the respective state governments, Stalin also took a dig at the AIADMK, urging the party to not support legislations that go against the state’s rights. express read Man convicted in 2019 honour killing case Student brings ‘bombs’ to attack classmate Coimbatore: A special court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on Thursday held a 30-yearold MBC man guilty of murdering his brother and his Dalit lover in 2019. The sentence will be pronounced on January 29 | P7 Puducherry: A Class 11 private school student on Thursday stabbed his classmate during an argument over a social media post. Country-made bombs were also recovered from his bag. A case has been filed | P2 Notices to Ola, Uber over price disparity E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi The Union consumer affairs ministry 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. An Uber spokesperson said the platform does not set prices based on the operating system of the consumer’s phone. Ola is yet to comment. The development comes after several users said the ride-hailing apps were showing higher prices on iPhones compared to Android smartphones. The Centre has also sent a notice to Apple over the glitches reported by iPhone users after a recent software update. WITH THIS ISSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 40 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID)