
Meet organised on recent advancements in AI
Agiripalli (Krishna district): CEO and Managing Director of Efftronics Systems Dr Dasari Ramakrishna took part as the chief guest at the second International Conference on Recent Advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Computational Intelligence, and Inclusive Technologies (ICRAIC2IT – 2025) hosted by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at NRI Institute of Technology here on Friday. The conference was sponsored by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), New Delhi.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Ramakrishna cited examples like railway signalling automation, smart municipal lighting, and health monitoring platforms, all built using a systems engineering approach integrating electronics, software, and data analytics.
He emphasised the superiority of deterministic automation systems over probabilistic AI models for delivering robust, reliable, and scalable solutions.
Dr R Venkat Rao, Chairman of NRIIT, Principal of NRIIT Dr C Naga Bhaskar, Conference Chairman and Dean, CSE & Allied Dr KV Sambasivarao, Convener and Head of the CSE Department Dr D Suneetha, Director (Academics) Dr G Sambasivarao, Dr D Kailasa Rao, Director (Student affairs) also spoke.
The conference attracted 284 research paper submissions, of which 114 were accepted for presentation after a rigorous double-blind peer-review process, achieving a 40.14 percent acceptance rate. About 122 prestigious institutions worldwide, including Wright State University, California State University, ISRO, Amrita University, Vellore Institute of Technology, National Forensic Sciences University, and Nectar Info Tek LLC (USA), Chandigarh University, Mahindra University, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, and Anna University participated in the conference reflecting its global academic stature.
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India Today
6 days ago
- India Today
The age of historical disagreements
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated June 9, 2025)In times when historical controversies can raise enough dust to bury entire civilisations, the ancient Tamil site of Keezhadi has re-emerged as a flashpoint. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has asked the site's lead archaeologist to revise his final report of January 2023—essentially, to locate the site on a much later timeline than the 6th-8th century BC originally suggested by the has sparked fresh allegations of political interference in historical research. 'Post-dating' the site would take away all the excitement from a discovery that had conferred greater civilisational depth to Tamil Nadu, pushing back its Sangam era by three K. Amarnath Ramakrishna, who led the early phases of excavation, has rejected the ASI's demand, stating that he stands by his 982-page report. His conclusions, he says, were based on unimpeachable scientific methods like stratigraphy and accelerator mass spectrometry. The state of the art in radiocarbon dating, the latter method has a precision of 40 years for recent antiquity. A MATTER OF TIMETo be sure, Keezhadi still awaits full scholarly consensus, specifically on whether the prime evidence for antiquity—potsherds with early Tamil inscriptions—are coeval with the carbon-dated charcoal layers. Also, whether its ceramic style accords with ancient Tamil Nadu's pottery chronology. But the ASI's May 2025 letter doesn't just seek corroboration. It calls for 'necessary corrections' and insists the earliest layer not be dated before 300 BC. Ramakrishna isn't the only one who spies a prejudicial edge in the ASI adopting such an approach to 'well-reasoned findings'. For many in the South, it's part of a broader pattern—one where 'science is subordinated to ideology, and archaeological evidence inconvenient to the dominant historical narrative is sidelined'.advertisement Keezhadi offers signs of a literate, urban Tamil civilisation along the Vaigai river dating back over 2,600 years. Nearby sites like Agaram and Konthagai buttress that idea, with some lines of inquiry even suggesting possible evolutionary links of early Tamil-Brahmi to the Indus script. The trouble this runs into, of course, is that it challenges the Centre's Vedic-centred view of antiquity. Hence, the ASI missive is seen by many experts less as pure academic scrutiny, more as a formal curb on the kind of story Keezhadi can tell. If fully unfurled, that narrative can subvert the privileged space conferred on the Vedic/Sanskritic lineage, suggesting a parallel civilisational track in the South—with its own language, script and cultural norms. A putative continuum with Harappa would deepen that as Keezhadi's findings were gaining national and international attention, Ramakrishna was abruptly transferred from Tamil Nadu to Assam in 2017 and ASI-led excavations slowed, later declaring no significant discoveries. In response, the state archaeology department took over Keezhadi work. Over time, that unearthed over 7,500 artefacts that buttressed Ramakrishna's hasn't been enough, it seems, to persuade New Delhi. 'The ASI has never been eager to acknowledge Keezhadi's truths,' says CPI(M) MP and writer S. Venkatesan, who has written extensively on Keezhadi. 'The BJP pushes mythology as history, but it works just as hard to erase our real past. But Tamil antiquity cannot be erased by government order.'BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan counters that the Centre had funded the initial excavation. 'The report was likely returned for administrative reasons, perhaps to avoid future questions,' she says. In response, Venkatesan asks: 'Why did you stop funding? If an excavation yields nothing, you may stop. But Keezhadi yielded everything. You stopped because what was discovered unsettled the very history you have been narrating.'Subscribe to India Today Magazine


The Hindu
24-05-2025
- The Hindu
Archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna refuses to revise findings on Keezhadi excavations
Archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna says he stands by his report on the excavations at the ancient site of Keezhadi in Sivaganga district. In his response to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which had requested that he rewrite and resubmit his report, Mr. Ramakrishna firmly defended his conclusions. 'The view expressed by you regarding further examination of the sequence is against the well-reasoned and conclusive findings of the excavation at the site,' he wrote in a letter to Hemasagar A. Naik, Director (Exploration and Excavation) at the ASI. Mr. Naik had cited suggestions made by two experts and asked Mr. Ramakrishna to revise his report by incorporating the necessary corrections, in order to proceed further. Chronology of the Keezhadi excavation According to Mr. Naik, the three chronological periods identified in the excavation require proper nomenclature or re-orientation. Additionally, the proposed time bracket for Period I (8th century BCE to 5th century BCE) requires more concrete justification. Mr. Ramakrishna, who led the Keezhadi excavation, clarified in his response that he had already accepted the suggested changes in nomenclature and had communicated them to the ASI in a letter dated April 10, 2023. 'The chronology of the Keezhadi excavation has been evaluated in accordance with standard archaeological procedures. The periodization of the site was reconstructed based on stratigraphic sequences, cultural deposits, material culture, and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating obtained during the excavation,' said Mr. Ramakrishna, who submitted his report in January 2023. More than two and a half years later, the ASI has now asked him to resubmit the report to make it 'more authentic.' In his reply, Mr. Ramakrishna explained that the final conclusions presented in the report were based on detailed findings and were supported by comprehensive documentation. He stated that the chronological sequence of the Keezhadi site was clearly explained in the original report. Responding to the ASI's request for layer numbers to be marked for comparative consistency analysis, he said this would be done if any such data was found to be missing. Mr. Ramakrishna also emphasised that all relevant maps, plates, and drawings had been provided in high-resolution formats, both in soft and hard copies, to the ASI at the time of submission. 'Hence, there is no chance of anything being missing. However, if anything is found to be missing, it will be corrected,' he added.


Indian Express
23-05-2025
- Indian Express
ASI asks archaeologist to resubmit Keeladi report, citing need for ‘more authentic' data
Nearly a decade after the first trench was dug in Keeladi, a now-celebrated archaeological site in southern Tamil Nadu, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has asked the archaeologist who led the early excavations to revise and resubmit his report, citing the need for better classification, dating justifications, and clearer documentation. In a letter dated May 21, 2025, the ASI instructed K Amarnath Ramakrishna, the archaeologist who directed the first two seasons of the Keeladi dig (2014–2016), to rework his 982-page report. The agency said the current draft, submitted in January 2023, lacked adequate scientific rigour in certain areas and required corrections to make it 'more authentic'. 'The three periods require proper nomenclatures or re-orientation,' the letter said. It added that the time bracket of '8th century BCE to 5th century BCE for Period I requires concrete justification.' The ASI also called for a revision in how dates are presented, noting that 'only mentioning depth for the available scientific dates is not enough, but the layer number should also be marked for comparative consistency analysis.' The directive was based on feedback from two unnamed expert reviewers consulted by the ASI. Ramakrishna was transferred to Assam in 2017, which critics described as a politically motivated move after his preliminary findings suggested the presence of a sophisticated urban civilisation in Tamil Nadu that could rival – or at least parallel – the Gangetic Plains. Those findings, which posited a chronology reaching back to the 8th century BCE, have since formed the bedrock of the growing belief in Tamil Nadu that its civilisational roots run deep into the Sangam era and potentially predate it. Ramakrishna, now serving as ASI's Director of Antiquities, had concluded that Keeladi's fertile land gave rise to an animal-based economy focused on cattle and goat herding, which led to surplus rice production and maritime trade. His report also included evidence from phytolith and pollen analyses, structural remains, terracotta objects, over a dozen varieties of pottery, and a suite of AMS-dated artefacts. However, the ASI has now questioned temporal claims about the scope of the much earlier existence of Keeladi. 'The date of the earliest period in the present state of our knowledge appears to be very early; it can be, at the maximum, somewhere in pre-300 BCE,' the letter said. It also noted the absence of vital documentation such as a clear village map, stratigraphy drawings, and trench location plans, saying, 'The submitted maps may be replaced with better ones; some plates are missing…' The ASI's move has caught the attention of academics and observers who were closely watching the Keeladi excavations in Tamil Nadu. While some suspect that there is a political motive behind the ASI's move as the agency has been accused of preventing Tamil Nadu's similar projects and delaying reports, others said they will wait and see as the letter, in nature, could also be interpreted as a usual one in the process of validation in such projects. 'But you may note that they sat on this report for over two years before sending this letter now. It could even be a tactic to defer or dilute inconvenient narratives,' said a source consulted by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA). 'The report is a record of excavation and interpretation,' said the consultant, adding that it is not meant to be rewritten to fit someone else's view of the past. Keeladi has been central to a quiet but powerful cultural assertion in Tamil Nadu, especially under the state government's push to foreground Dravidian antiquity. Since the ASI's withdrawal, the TNSDA has carried out subsequent excavation phases. Their findings, including a 585 BCE date at Keeladi and an 1155 BCE date at nearby Sivakalai, have narrowed the perceived gap between southern settlements and the Indus Valley Civilisation.