top of page

By:

Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 9:59:04 pm

Urban Apathy

The numbers emerging from Maharashtra’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls are striking, but they should not be read simply as a story of voter exclusion. They are also a warning about urban voter apathy and mobility that are making the electoral rolls increasingly difficult to maintain. Across Maharashtra, 20.68 million electors, or 21.14 percent of registered voters, have been excluded from the draft rolls after they could not be traced at their given addresses....

Urban Apathy

The numbers emerging from Maharashtra’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls are striking, but they should not be read simply as a story of voter exclusion. They are also a warning about urban voter apathy and mobility that are making the electoral rolls increasingly difficult to maintain. Across Maharashtra, 20.68 million electors, or 21.14 percent of registered voters, have been excluded from the draft rolls after they could not be traced at their given addresses. Importantly, this figure includes 1.76 million voters identified as duplicates or already enrolled elsewhere, putting the actual number of exclusions for other reasons at more than 19 million. The urban numbers are particularly stark. In Mumbai, 34.75 percent of names have been deleted, while Thane has recorded the state’s highest proportion at 38.37 percent. These figures should prompt voters themselves to look in the mirror. The Chief Electoral Officer has said in interviews that the draft is not the final electoral roll. The exercise has identified people who were absent, had permanently shifted, were deceased, were enrolled elsewhere or fell into other categories. In many cases, the problem is straightforward as people move cities, change homes, migrate for work and fail to update their electoral records. But there is another practical complication. Booth Level Officers may visit homes during working hours only to find nobody there. A large urban population returns home after 7.30 or 8 pm. BLOs cannot realistically be expected to work indefinitely into the night, particularly when many are women. This creates a gap between an electoral system seeking physical verification and an urban population that is increasingly mobile and unavailable. But administrative difficulties cannot become an excuse for complacency. Nor can citizens assume that having voted in the past guarantees their name will automatically remain on the roll. Democracy does not merely require the right to vote; it requires voters to take the elementary trouble of ensuring that they remain registered. The election authorities have provided a clear remedy. Every voter should check the draft roll, verify the details and, if the name is missing, apply for inclusion through Form 6. Errors can also be corrected. The claims and objections process exists precisely because a draft roll is not infallible. Political parties, civil society organisations and resident associations have a role here too. Instead of treating every deletion as either an administrative conspiracy or a routine bureaucratic exercise, they should help citizens verify their entries and assist genuine voters through the correction process. The SIR has exposed a weakness in urban civic culture. Voters who care deeply about politics cannot afford to be indifferent about the most basic administrative act that makes political participation possible. The final electoral roll is not somebody else’s responsibility. It belongs to the voter.

AI in Sperm Sorting: An Unbiased Decision for A Better Outcome

Artificial Intelligence or AI is revolutionising fertility treatments of the future. The inclusion of AI enhances the accuracy, efficiency, and objectivity of sperm selection, hence potentially improving fertility outcomes by leaps and bounds. Traditionally, sperm sorting through manual methods is subjective to judgments. Processes like centrifugation and swim-up methods are used to separate sperm based on motility and morphology. Although they are effective, they have their limitations, leading to human errors that affect the success rates of fertility treatment. For instance, studies have shown that traditional sperm sorting techniques can have variability in success rates, with reported live birth rates ranging between 15 per cent to 25 per cent per cycle depending on the method and quality of sperm. Hence the introduction of AI helps in maintaining consistency in evaluations of sperm, using the same data set for every sample which leads to better judgments.


Automation and Standardisation- Automation of sperm selection and also introduction of AI in the process have improved the results in ART. AI-assisted sperm selection improves the accuracy in choosing high-quality sperm for fertilisation purposes, and also, pregnancy and live birth rates might be improved. Technologies like Intracytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection along with AI ensure the chances of pregnancies increase by about 10-20 per cent compared to the standard procedures. AI and Automation will decrease time taken to analyze sperm and increase opportunities to select better sperm with DNA integrity for better development and higher success rates in embryo selection. These processes ensure that the sperm selection process follows consistent criteria, reducing variability in outcomes caused by human error.


Analysing Complex Data for Better Outcomes- AI plays a crucial in improving IVF outcomes by analysing complex data and providing tailored recommendations. AI-driven tools and models such as those on SpOvum.ai point towards an opportunity to optimise ovarian stimulation decisions by assessing patient characteristics and follicle growth patterns. A study revealed that the use of AI in IVF improved egg yield and reduced medication costs. AI enables fertility specialists to make data-driven choices, improving overall IVF success rates and streamlining treatment processes.


Reducing Human Error- AI models can continuously learn and refine their performance by being trained on newer data. This adaptability ensures the technology remains unbiased and up-to-date with the latest scientific insights into sperm quality and fertility success rates. Studies have shown that AI-driven sperm sorting can decrease human-related errors by up to 25 per cent, improving sperm selection quality in terms of morphology and motility.


Reduction of Sperm Damage- The new AI-driven sperm sorting techniques also include microfluidic systems that are known to exhibit several advantages over the most commonly used conventional method, which is centrifugation. Traditional centrifugation methods, such as density gradient centrifugation, also cause severe oxidative stress and DNA fragmentation of the sperm because of the very high mechanical forces involved. The AI-infused microfluidic sorting minimises this damage significantly by involving gentler processes that mimic the natural pathway of sperm selection. The studies show that the process of microfluidic sorting decreases DNA fragmentation in sperm, which gives improved opportunities for success for IVF. For example, DNA fragmentation is 20 percent lower in sperm sorted using microfluidic processes than in traditional processing methods.


AI is bound to play an increasingly definitive role in fertility treatments, which will improve the outcomes for couples experiencing infertility.


(The author is a Co-Founder & CEO at SpOvum® Technologies. Views personal.)

Comments

bottom of page