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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Another battle between Pawars on card

Jay desires to contest election in 2029; Rohit reacts strongly Mumbai: Barely had the voting for Baramati Assembly by-election ended, a potential ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ battle in 2029 spooked the immediate contest in which Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra A. Pawar is the prime contender. The by-poll itself – compelled by the demise of former NCP chief and ex-Dy.CM Ajit A. Pawar in January – witnessed a large turnout after an emotionally-charged campaign in...

Another battle between Pawars on card

Jay desires to contest election in 2029; Rohit reacts strongly Mumbai:  Barely had the voting for Baramati Assembly by-election ended, a potential ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ battle in 2029 spooked the immediate contest in which Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra A. Pawar is the prime contender. The by-poll itself – compelled by the demise of former NCP chief and ex-Dy.CM A jit A. Pawar in January – witnessed a large turnout after an emotionally-charged campaign in which even bigwigs from the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) participated. As the voting progressed, certain remarks from both NCP (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar and his cousin Jay A. Pawar, son of Sunetra, indicated that the future of Baramati politics would remain family-dominated, at least till the next Assembly elections in 2029. Accompanying his mom to the polling centre, Jay claimed that pressure was mounting on him from the commoners and NCP workers urging him to contest the Baramati elections after 3 years. People’s Desire “It’s the demand from the party activists and the desire of the people that I should be a candidate in 2029. But from my heart, I wish to continue working as an ordinary party worker and serve everyone,” said Jay, hinting that he would be a reluctant contestant while sparking a mini-row. Predicting a record voter turnout and a victory margin for his mother, he appealed to the voters to support Sunetra as enthusiastically as they had supported his father, the late Ajit Pawar in the past. Quickly reacting to Jay’s utterances, Rohit also hinted at the likelihood of a face-off between family members in the next Assembly polls. “We should heed the sentiments of the party workers and the people… Their party (NCP) is different from our (NCP-SP) party,” Rohit said, making it clear that political loyalties would remain separate despite close family ties. Yugendra vs Jay In the eventuality of Jay being fielded by the NCP in 2029, Rohit suggested that another cousin, Yugendra S. Pawar – son of Shrinivas A. Pawar, and nephew of Ajit Pawar – could be a prospective rival from the NCP (SP) – making it another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ poll duel. Baramati Assembly and Lok Sabha seats have in the past witnessed politically charged electoral battles between different family members of the Pawar clan, he reminded. Nevertheless, Rohit also admitted how the masses frowned at such intra-family contests – as in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections - which divided virtually all families in Baramati while Sunetra Pawar and her ‘nanad’ Supriya Sule slugged it out at the hustings. “It is not the desire of the people to see another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ fight… There are certain political forces opposed to the Pawar Family which seem keen to foment such divisive contests and weaken its influence here,” Rohit declared. Keeping the door ajar for a reconciliation between the NCP(SP)-NCP, he said it would be opposed, but the views of the workers, elected representatives and family members tend to complicate the issues, as ‘withdrawing from power’ is not an easy option – making it clear that both the parties would function independently at least for the present. Shrinivas Pawar reprimands cousins The statements by the cousins Jay and Rohit evoked sharp response from Shrinivas A. Pawar who pulled them up for raising decisive yet divisive futuristic issues during the polling today. “What was the need to say all this now? Today is important and everyone has come out for ‘Dada’ (Ajit A. Pawar)… We must all remain united,” emphasised Shrinivas A. Pawar. Chiding the younger cousin-siblings, Shrinivas said that “if you are aware that people don’t prefer such intra-family contests, why don’t you sit together and resolve these issues”. Baramati, Rahuri see 50 pc voting Bypoll to the Baramati assembly seat in Maharashtra's Pune district, where Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Sunetra Pawar was in the fray, recorded a voter turnout of around 50 per cent till 5 pm on Thursday, officials said. The voting percentage in Rahuri assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district, which also saw a bypoll, was 50.74 per cent, they said. Voting, which began at 7 am, concluded at 6 pm. The Rahuri assembly seat became vacant after BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile's death in October last year. His son Akshay Kardile was in the fray as a BJP candidate from the seat, and was pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Govind Mokate and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Santosh Chalke.

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.)

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