According to media reports and analyses, the Modi government has been accused of understating the actual death toll during the pandemic. The main reasons for this include protecting the government’s image, claiming success in dealing with the pandemic, and possibly political pressure. There have been attempts to discredit reports by the World Health Organization and other independent organizations, raising questions about the transparency of the data. The government claimed that the death toll was between 4.8 and 5.33 lakh, while the World Health Organization estimated 4.7 lakh deaths. The purpose of hiding this huge difference in the data is likely to be to hide health system and policy failures. Not conducting a census is also being considered a step in this direction, as accurate data could challenge the government’s claims.
Actual death toll
While official figures put the number of deaths due to COVID-19 at 4.8 to 5.33 lakh in 2020-2021, the World Health Organization’s 2022 report put the number at 4.7 million. According to the Civil Registration System (CRS), the total registered deaths in 2021 were 10.2 crore, which was 2.1 lakh more than in 2020. According to the Sample Registration System (SRS) and Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) data, the number of deaths was also many times higher than the official figures. The estimated number of deaths in 2021 reached 2.875 lakh, and if the figures for 2019 are added, it was around 2.1 lakh. These figures are 6 to 10 times higher than the official figures. A census is needed to confirm the exact number, which has not been done yet.
Opinion of opposition parties and experts
Opposition parties: Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, and other opposition parties have accused the government of hiding the death toll and failing to handle the pandemic. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have repeatedly questioned the government’s policies, claiming that the government has cheated the people by providing inadequate health facilities and manipulating data.
The AAP has questioned the central government’s preparedness while talking about the improvement in health facilities in Delhi. Experts: Health experts and scientists, such as Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya and other public health experts, have linked the discrepancy in the figures to shortcomings in health data collection and the absence of registration of deaths.
Accepting the WHO report as correct, experts said that the government has “under-reported” the real situation.
Reports in global newspapers
Yes, several global newspapers and media organizations have published reports on this issue. The New York Times discussed the under-reporting of COVID-19 deaths in India in reports published in 2021 and 2022. They cited the World Health Organization’s figure of 4.7 million deaths and highlighted the shortcomings of the health system.
The Guardian raised the discrepancy between the Indian government’s figures and the World Health Organization’s figures in a report in 2022, raising questions about the government’s transparency. The BBC published reports in 2021 of bodies floating in the Ganges River and piles of bodies in sewers, which raised questions about the veracity of the figures.
The Lancet scientific journal published a study in 2022, which estimated the death toll in India to be over 4 million, which was many times the official figure.
Al Jazeera also published reports on the actual number of deaths and images of bodies found in sewers and rivers in 2021-22. All these reports show a large discrepancy between official figures and the actual situation, raising questions about the government’s transparency and accountability.
