Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Monday, 7 December 2020

Covin App : Confirmation Coming

 

 

Following was my first e-mail describing the framework of a Mobile App { VacReg } , for administering the Covid vaccine

Rationing of Covid Vaccine ? ……………………………………[ 06 July 2020 ]

That was followed up by :

Voting and Vaccination : Compare and Contrast ………[ 19 Oct 2020 ]

COVIN App : A Curtain Raiser …………………………………….[ 04 Dec 2020 ]

 

===================================================

Today ( 07 Dec ) Times of India carries following news report :

Self-registration for comorbid people to get Covid vaccines ?.................[ 07 Dec 2020 ]

 

Extract :

 

Ø  India, which faces the daunting task of identifying high-risk people with co-morbidities- whom it will have to inoculate after healthcare and frontline worker get vaccines, may consider allowing individuals to self-declare comorbidities to get the shot in the arm

Ø  Part of India’s preparations to deliver vaccines is to tag them : Vaccines will be tagged and tracked electronically from the place of origin ( ports / pharma firms ) up to the person receiving the dose

 

Ø  This will be enabled by the CO-WIN app

 

 

Ø  Every person receiving a vaccine will get an SMS with details of the date, venue and time of vaccination and even the name of vaccinator

 

Ø  After vaccination, the app will also generate certificates

 

Ø  Beneficiary data for the first two rounds of inoculation will be entered onto CO-WIN by State Authorities, while data of those from the third round, which will prioritise comorbid people, may see individuals self-registering

 

Ø  “ As part of the upgrade, an option allowing individuals to self-register, declaring their comorbidities has been included in CO-WIN. Local officials will authenticate such applications before considering the person for vaccination. However this option remains disabled at the moment as governments will enter data of healthcare workers , “ Arundhati Chandrashekar, one of the mission directors of the National Health Mission ( NHM ) , which will spearhead the vaccination drive, told TOI

 

Ø  The government has still kept the option of collecting data of persons with comorbidities and uploading them on CO-WIN as bulk entries, but this would require massive data from across the states, which may not be viable within dedicated timelines

 

Ø  “ In case such data is unavailable and / or any surveys planned are not complete, the government is likely to allow self-registration. But things are still very fluid, and a committee at the central level is deliberating various options, “ Arundhati said, adding that the Centre will decide the modalities

 

Ø  While no final decision has been made on how to identify people with comorbidities yet, experts part of ICMR and other government of India committees TOI spoke with, said various options , including self-declaration by people, using the NCD ( non-communicable diseases ) national database, door-to-door survey findings done in states like Karnataka and Mumbai region may be considered by the government

 

Ø  According to estimates, 15 % to 20 % of the population may have comorbidities. The NCD data is not complete and has only passive enrollments which started Oct 2019 and only a third of all data has been digitized so far. We’ll soon be starting an active survey and the target to cover the entire population is 2022. Apart from this, we are likely to include fields in the family surveys to be conducted by the health department to include options to enter comorbidities , “Arundhati added

 

Ø  Aside from NCD data, some states like Karnataka are looking at including additional fields for comorbidities as part of National Family Survey. “ Everything will depend on the GOI guidelines , “ Arundhati said [ karnataka.sulm@gmail.com / nhm@karnataka.gov.in ]

 

=================================================  

Fractal Putting vaccine Data to Work   /  Eco Times – 07 Dec

Extract :

Ø  Artificial Intelligence company Fractal Analytics is building data frameworks to help authorities track administrations of Covid-19 vaccines and address questions over their efficacy and side effects

Ø  The state governments that the company is engaged with are cognizant that “rather than a high-handed approach “, a data-driven process that addresses citizen concerns may be more effective for vaccine coverage, Fractal group chief executive Srikanth Velamakanni said

Ø  It looks to continue its assistance to these administrations and also assist the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for vaccine-related data modelling

Ø  For Covid-19 identification and treatment, the start up deployed models based on behavioral data science and AI, to help administrators and doctors make key decisions

Ø  It has designed a cloud-based data infrastructure to document and analyse the vaccination process using publicly available structured and unstructured data

Ø  According to Velamakanni, the company is aiming to help states address public concerns in the vaccination process with data-driven answers….in light of all those expectations, how you make sure that you are transparently communicating and getting citizens to do what is right for themselves ( is important ), said Velamakanni [somya.agarwal@fractal.ai/ Srikanth@fractal.ai ]

=================================================

Smt Arundhatiji  

[ karnataka.sulm@gmail.com / nhm@karnataka.gov.in ],

 

Congratulations for development of CO-WIN app


It makes me happy that it incorporates most of the feature of Mobile App “ VacReg “described in :

      Voting and Vaccination : Compare and Contrast ………[ 19 Oct 2020 ]


      I appreciate that compilation / analysis of Covid infection related data of 1.3 BILLION of our citizen, is a very

      complex and herculean task . But collecting such data meticulously has far reaching implications as I wrote to

     our PM Shri Modiji , in my following Linkedin post ( sent as email ) yesterday :

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Shri Modiji,

While thanking you for incorporating most of my suggestions in COVIN app, I urge you to :


> instruct those VACCINATING STAFF, managing the VDC [ Vaccine Delivery Centre ] not to give the shot until and

unless , the citizen concerned helps the staff to first fill-in the DATA listed at,

Rationing of Covid Vaccine ? ……………[ 06 July 2020 ]


Without such elaborate DATA about each and every person being administered the
Covid Vaccine, AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) will NOT be able to PREDICT :


# Where ( location ) will the infections go up further / go down


# Which STRATA of society is more / less likely to get affected in future


# EXTENT to which recovery – rate will go up / down , and where


# What could be the MORTALTY RATE ( region-wise / Strata-wise /
   education-wise / Income Level – wise etc )

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 

I wish to repeat :

Ø  Data ( suggested for compilation in my e-mail Rationing of Covid Vaccine ?  06 July 2020 ), must be compiled for all 1.3 billion citizen – and not just those with comorbidity / or any sub-group

 

Ø  Only time a citizen would quietly agree to submit such data ( to health worker giving the shot ), will be BEFORE giving the shot. If data is not collected / entered into online Technology Platform BEFORE giving the shot, then we might as well forget ! What can health worker do if the person simply walks away ?

 

 

Ø  Without such COMPREHENSIVE DATA , Artificial Intelligent software will fail miserably in prediction

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 07 Dec 2020

 

 

 

 

  

Saturday, 5 December 2020

Supreme Surveillance Solution ?

 


 

Context :

SC: CCTVs must in offices of CBI, ED, Police Stations  /  HT – 03 Dec

Extract :

With the aim of preventing custodial torture, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered for installation of CCTV cameras in the offices of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies, in addition to police stations across the country.

Extending the ambit of its 2018 order, the top court maintained that not only police stations but all the other agencies, which have the power to make arrests and interrogate, must also have CCTVs and recording devices installed in their premises. Therefore, the bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman directed the central government to get CCTV cameras with audio-recording facility installed in the offices of CBI, ED, NIA, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and all such agencies.

“As most of these agencies carry out interrogation in their office(s), CCTVs shall be compulsorily installed in all offices where such interrogation and holding of accused takes place in the same manner as it would in a police station,” directed the bench.

In 2018, the court had passed a judgment for bringing all police stations under the surveillance of the CCTV cameras to check human rights abuses. For this purpose, all states were required to constitute independent committees that could study CCTV camera footages and periodically publish reports of its observations.

Further, this judgment asked the Central government to a set up a Central Oversight Body (COB) and provide necessary funds…

Two years on, when the bench sought to evaluate the progress made by the states, it noted severe deficiencies in complying with its judgment across the board.

Besides, the court order made SHO of each police station responsible for upkeep and maintenance of CCTV cameras.

The cameras need to be installed at all entry and exit points, main gate of the police station, all lock-ups, reception area, officials’ rooms, and station hall.

It added that a State Level Oversight Committee,…must also be constituted to make certain the court’s directions are duly complied with…

Similarly, District Level Oversight Committees,…will be set up in all districts to interact with the SHOs for upkeep of CCTVs and review the footage for any human right violation.

The Centre and states have been given six weeks by the court to file their compliance affidavit with details of cameras installed, exact timeline of completing the remaining installations and constitution of oversight committees.

===================================================

Context :

Bombay HC bats for CCTV cameras in police stations, directs cops to maintain daily register  /  06 Dec

Extract :

..Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, ..went a step ahead and directed police stations in the state to maintain a register detailing the daily functioning of the said CCTV cameras to prevent custodial torture.

.. the bench remarked, “This is not the first instance when the concerned police station has informed that CCTV system was not working. Some specific directions are given by this court at this seat and at the principal seat also to see that CCTV systems are installed in every police station and it should cover lockup and other portions of police stations.”

 “Such system controls activities like atrocities against persons who are brought to police station. It is surprising that in many cases submission is made that on that particular day, the CCTV system was not working… This cannot be allowed to happen as the purpose behind installing the CCTV system itself is defeated when such submissions are accepted.”

 “This court wants to see that the registers are maintained in respect of the CCTV system in the concerned police station to ascertain the truthfulness of the submission that CCTV system was not working on that day,”

===================================================

MY TAKE :

Ø  This , seemingly harsh order, was perhaps inevitable given the instances of Police brutalities over the decades ( may be a legacy of the British Raj )


Ø  Although not a perfect solution ( to elimination of violations of human rights ), this will help


Ø  It is not possible to satisfactorily answer ( right now, at least ), following questions raised by Economic Times Editorial ( 04 Dec ) – but one must thank ET for raising the same :


      #  Is ( this surveillance ) sufficient to eliminate torture ?


      #  what is to prevent the police from arranging interrogation rooms outside

          police stations, where to carry out their third-degree practices ?

          

      #  What is the guarantee tat CCTV cameras will not suffer convenient 

          outages or that the recordings would not be damaged, say, by water

          pouring from a leaky roof ?

          

      #   Is electronic surveillance the optimal utilization, from the point of view

           of advancing the cause of  justice, of the enormous sums that would be

           required to install cameras in every room and corridor of every police

           station in the country ?

          

       #   Do we have the bandwidth to back-up the videography recording in the

            cloud ?


Ø  To these , I would like to add the following questions :


#   Is it possible for those members of the District Level Oversight

     Committees ( humans after all,  with all their natural biases ), review 

     the footage for any human right violation ?

    

Consider the following facts :


#   We have a total of some 16,671 police stations spread among 718

     districts ( ave of 23 / district )

#   Each police station may need 20 CCTV cameras , ie., 460  cameras per

     district ( 23 x 20 )

#  Recording for say 12 hours / day, amounts to a CCTV footage of 5520

    hours / day, to be reviewed by the District Committee Members for “ 

    human rights violation “

    

#  From a video / audio, how does a human detect / conclude a “ human

    rights violation “ ?  - which are defined as follows :

   

“ In terms of Section 2 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (hereafter referred to as 'the Act'), "human rights" means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed under the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India.

          {  source : https://nhrc.nic.in/frequently-asked-questions }

 

If there are 5 members in district committee and each member is ( say ) able to spare one hour per day to review CCTV footage , that would amount to a reviewing a mere 5 hours of recording , out of 5520 hours !


No chance of catching any instance of “ human rights violation “ !


And here is a larger question :


“ What spoken words / facial expressions ( captured and reviewed by committee members ), are clear / indisputable proof of violation of life , liberty, equality, dignity ? “


Would all 5 members of the committee agree unanimously that the ( video captured ) facial expression of person being interrogated, displays unmistakable signs of emotions like  FRUSTRATION, FEAR , PAIN etc ? What if there is disagreement ?


Altogether there can be 3590 committee member ( 718 districts x 5 persons )


Can all of them consistently and identically “ decipher human emotions “ ( our clue to violations ) ?


I cannot escape a feeling that “ review “ by humans, will only lead to “ my word against your word “ situation !

 

Is there a NON-HUMAN , technology based method to accurately / consistently / untiringly , decipher those human emotions and conclusively establish that,

 

Ø  Person being interrogated, definitely displayed emotions of  FRUSTRATION - FEAR – PAIN - ANGUISH ?

 

Ø  Police officer interrogating, displayed emotions of ANGER – CONTEMPT – THREAT – HATE – MALICE  ?

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I urge the Supreme Court to consider,


Ø  Integration with those lakhs of CCTV cameras , a ( human independent ) technology-based software which can detect in a VIDEO-RECORDING, the “ human emotions “ listed above and then alert ( by automatically e-mailing that offensive portion of a VIDEO-CLIP ) to Human Rights Commission / District – State level Oversight Committees Members / any other designated persons or agencies , along with full details of :

 

      #   District / Police Station Number

      #    Name – Rank of interrogating Police Officer

     #    Name / Aadhar ID of suspect being interrogated

     #    Date / Time of interrogation

     #    Suspected Offence for which being interrogated

     #    FIR No

In case such a Technology Platform is NOT available from any Indian company, then the Supreme Court may consider the following provider :

===================================================

Ø  https://www.affectiva.com/how/how-it-works/

             Human Perception AI.

 

Our software detects all things human: nuanced emotions, complex cognitive states, behaviors, activities, interactions and objects people use.


Built on deep learning, computer vision, speech science and massive amounts of real-world data, Affectiva’s technology can detect nuanced human emotions, complex cognitive states, activities, interactions and objects people use.

 https://ranaelkaliouby.com/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_el_Kaliouby

===================================================

Ø  CORTICA

This autonomous AI is embedded in next-generation, ultra-scale platforms where understanding images is a critical task


Cortica
, an Israeli company with deep roots in security and AI research, recently formed a partnership in India with Best Group to analyse the terabytes of data streaming from CCTV cameras in public areas.


The companies' combined efforts will provide an array of solutions for combing through the staggering amount of data captured daily through millions of hours of footage shot by drones, surveillance cameras and satellites.


The sheer breath of data surveilled on a given day renders manual examination nearly impossible.


Autonomous AI enables real-time identification of patterns, concepts and situational anomalies to identify potential problems, flag them and improve safety in the process.


( https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prime-ministers-narendra-modi-and-benjamin-netanyahu-welcome-new-age-of-collaboration-for-israel-and-india-300589299.html )

===================================================

This Technology Platform should have following features :

Ø  A Mobile App [ WatchDog ? ], using which anyone can select any given Police Station and watch real-time live video streaming of the CCTV in the interrogation room .


Ø  A portal { www.IndianPoliceStations.gov.in } , where a dashboard displays dynamically, number of viewers ( citizen ) watching, each of the 16,671 police stations . In-charge of a Police Station would get to know this number and get motivated to conduct the interrogation in a humane / polite manner


Ø  An inbuilt “ Language Translation Software “, since ( presumably ), interrogating officer is most likely to be using the language of the person being interrogated. Citizen watching live streaming should be enabled to understand the dialogue taking place 

  

           Related Readings :


            Government announces list of 10 best performing police stations in India

 

            Live Streaming of Court Proceedings

 

            AI come to judgement ? Not for a while !

 

           Who watches the Watchmen ?

 

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqeQByqf_f8 


          Singularity : an Indian Concept ?

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  06 Dec 2020

Friday, 4 December 2020

COVIN App : A Curtain Raiser

 


 

Context :

Govt To Launch Mobile App For Coronavirus Vaccine Distribution, Know The Features Of The Application Here

  [  ABP News Bureau | 28 Nov 2020 11:50 AM (IST)  ]


Extract :

As per the latest update, centre has planned to launch a mobile app to guide the citizens in the process of taking vaccine shots.


The app will provide you,

#     an estimated time and date about when you will get the vaccine and

#     what is the status of vaccine distribution in your city.

 

Similar to the Aarogya Setu app, this new application will ask you for,

#     your name and location, and then

#     will update you about the status of vaccine distribution

#    helping you understand when you can get the Coronavirus vaccine.

 

This app will benefit both the government and the citizens to ,

 #    Track how many people have already taken the vaccine shots.

 

In case you are not prepared to take the vaccine shot on the day you get an appointment, you can reschedule your visit to the vaccine booths.

 

Also, special arrangements have been made by the central government, if there is a negative impact on your body after taking the vaccine.

===================================================

Context :

FIRST VACCINE DOSES MAY BE AVAILABLE IN A MATTER OF WEEKS: PM  /  Times of India 05 Dec 2020


Extract :

"India has developed a special software, Covin, in which beneficiaries of vaccine and real-time information about availability and storage of vaccine will be available “ the PM said

===================================================

Here is an extract from my earlier e mail to Cabinet Ministers / State CMs / NITI Aayog etc :

Voting and Vaccination : Compare and Contrast ……………[ 19 Oct 2020 ]

 

Extract :


Registration

Ø    Govt to launch a Mobile App { VacReg ? )


Ø    Ask all Mobile Service Providers to stop their services to those subscribers

      who fail to download / install this app by 30th Nov

      

 Ø    Mandate all mobile users to fill-in “ REGISTRATION DATA “ by 30

       Dec 2020 and click UPLOAD


 Ø    App will require a citizen to submit following data :

      Name / Aadhar Number / Mobile Number / Current Resi Address 

     ( could be  different than add in Aadhar ID )


      Ticking –selection of only one of the PRIORITY CATEGORIES from the 

      following drop list :

       

     “ I belong to :

       Healthcare Worker / Frontline Worker / Police / Muni. Worker / Armed Force /

       People>50 yrs of age/People<50 yrs with co-morbidity / None of the above –

       NOTA  “

       

    

 Ø    Persons who find it difficult to fill in this Registration Data into mobile app (for

       whatever reason –including, not having a Smart phone ), may take help from

       the nearest,

                       

     #   CSC ( Common Service Centre ) / Post Office  / Aadhar Registration

          Centers

     #   Nursing Home / Hospital / Lab or even any nearby Doctor,

 

    -   all of who will be requested to help the hapless citizen concerned ( they may

        use desktop to submit registration data on central server of Ayushman

       Bharat website )

           

     

Ø    Based on the  “ Registration Data “ submitted, the Central Server ( of

      Aushman Bharat ) will issue,

      a UNIQUE PRIORITY NUMBER to the person ( by SMS on mobile ) .

 

      The message will also assign a specific

      “ Vaccine Delivery Centre – VDC “ ( a nearby Hospital – Nursing Home – Lab

         – Doctor )

 

Ø    Server will, simultaneously send notification to that particular VDC, providing

      full registration details of the concerned citizen – indicating his PRIORITY

     

   

 Ø    Based on the “ Number of Citizen “ assigned – and the PRIORITY of each

       such citizen, software installed will send an SMS to the citizens

       , assigning SPECIFIC DATE / TIME to each person for visit .

      

      This automatic / rule-based “ SCHEDULING “ by the software, will ensure 

      “ No crowding / maintenance of Social Distancing “

      

Ø    Concerned VDC will fill in details such as : Vaccinated on ( …..  ) /  Did not

      turn up

       This will alert health worker to visit residence of person for follow-up /

       reschedule visit

     

===================================================

Dear Shri Modiji,


While thanking you for incorporating most of my suggestions in COVIN app, I urge you to :

> instruct those VACCINATING STAFF, managing the VDC [ Vaccine Delivery

   Centre ] not to give the shot until and unless , the citizen concerned helps

   the staff to first fill-in the DATA listed at :


            Rationing of Covid Vaccine ? ……………………………………[ 06 July 2020 ]


Without such elaborate DATA about each and every person being administered the

Covid Vaccine, AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) will NOT be able to PREDICT :


            #    Where ( location ) will the infections go up further / go down

            #    Which STRATA of society is more / less likely to get affected in future

            #    EXTENT to which recovery – rate will go up / down , and where

            #    What could be the MORTALTY RATE ( region-wise / Strata-wise /

                  education-wise / Income Level – wise etc )


with regards,

hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  05 Dec 2020