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Saturday, January 3, 2026
TopicASI

Topic: ASI

Ancient coins found in Rajasthan show India’s currency history goes back to 7th century BCE

An ASI superintendent archaeologist, Vinay Gupta's recent paper titled ‘The Earliest Coinage of Bharat as Unearthed from Bahaj Excavations’ throws new light on the coinage in India.

Archaeologist Amalananda Ghosh pulled ASI away from colonial roots. New book celebrates him

The book, Indian Archaeology after Independence, challenges the notion that the institution primarily indulged in the discovery of Harappan sites.

Brahmi script existed in India way before Ashoka edicts, new paper says

The emergence of the Brahmi script can be dated back to the time of the PGW culture, which former ASI director-general BB Lal associated with the Mahabharata period.

Haryana IPS officer’s case takes murky turn. ASI found dead, ‘final video’ alleges corruption

ASI Sandeep Kumar allegedly died by suicide Tuesday. In the ‘final video’, IPS officer Y Puran Kumar and his IAS officer wife have been implicated in a corruption case.

ASI drafting new action plan to regulate excavations. ‘How long will the same people dig?’

Yadubir Singh Rawat, ASI director general, said archaeologists applying for license will need to submit a detailed excavation plan for the site and their objectives.

ASI isn’t publishing its excavation reports on time. Rakhigarhi to Ropar

ASI is digging more than ever, but reports on sites from Sinauli to Rakhigarhi are still pending. CAG flagged the issue in 2013 and 2022, but the backlog is growing.

You won’t dig this—ASI’s budget doubled in last 10 yrs, but it spent less than 1% on excavations

New Delhi: Conservation, exploration and excavation come to mind whenever the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is talked about. Turns out excavation is the...

ASI spent 25% of its last 5 yrs’ excavation budget on Gujarat, 94% of it on Modi’s hometown Vadnagar

Between 2020 and 2024, ASI conducted excavations at 58 sites across 17 states at a cost of Rs 34.81 cr. Of this, Rs 8.53 cr was allocated to Gujarat, an analysis by ThePrint found.

Keezhadi excavation report under review—Centre on ASI’s tussle with archeologist

New Delhi: Speaking for the first time in Parliament on the Keezhadi excavation report controversy, the Modi government Monday informed the house that there...

In a first, court orders attachment of ASI office for non-payment of adequate land compensation

The matter is related to the land acquisition in Dholavira, a UNESCO heritage site. ASI has demanded a period of 15 days to pay the villagers.

On Camera

Indian bureaucracy should be given incentives and rewards: MH Mody

Is there a place for a counter-bureaucracy, or a separate and competing bureaucracy to counterbalance the force of the executive’s bureaucracy, asked author MH Mody in 1980.

India’s urban co-op banks are turning the page—crisis to cautious revival, one metric at a time

With bad loans shrinking & capital buffers stronger, urban co-op banks’ new umbrella body NUCFDC is now prioritising rollout of digital transformation.

Greece looking at TATA’s WhAP infantry combat vehicle for army procurement

If deal goes through, Greece will be 2nd foreign country to procure vehicle. Morocco was first; TATA Group has set up manufacturing unit there with minimum 30 percent indigenous content.

A year-end Mea Culpa in National Interest—The Army-Islam combo doesn’t kill democracy

Many of you might think I got something so wrong in National Interest pieces written this year. I might disagree! But some deserve a Mea Culpa. I’d deal with the most recent this week.