Overview

• The ASI’s May 2025 letter asked for “necessary corrections” to K. Amarnath Ramakrishna’s 982-page Keeladi report and insisted the earliest occupation layer not be dated before 300 BC.
• Ramakrishna has refused to alter his findings, citing stratigraphy and accelerator mass spectrometry data that support a Sangam-era urban settlement.
• Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK and allied parties accused the ASI of subordinating science to ideology and undermining the state’s ancient heritage.
• The RBI’s draft Lending against Gold Collateral Directions proposed a 75 percent loan-to-value cap, proof of ownership requirements and limits on pledged gold per borrower.
• The Union finance ministry then recommended exempting loans under ₹2 lakh from the new gold-loan norms to safeguard access for rural and small-scale borrowers.