Since the last couple of weeks, opening newspapers or going through news channels have turned out to be very courageous tasks. There has been no respite from unending visuals of pyres of fellow citizens who died like worms and insects due to Covid. While these horrifying pictures and videos are always infinitely agonizing, for the last few days, mental pain has been compounded by similarly gory ones- dead bodies floating in Ganga and buried at its banks. The whispers doing rounds for quite some time that Covid deaths in India have been largely undercounted and underreported failed to reach a high pitch until these ‘shockers’. In a new development the Centre on Sunday finally issued a directive to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar governments asking them to prevent dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga and its tributaries, focus on their safe disposal and ensure dignified cremations. Although the focus after this move will now presumably shift to the pollution angle, the central question, however, remains unanswered- what are the actual number of deaths due to Covid-19 in the country? The lingering mystery can be penetrated and truth rescued only if there’s a judicial probe. It’s inarguably the overwhelming wish of all citizens now and smelling politics over it since Congress has raised the demand will be counted as an instance of hollow governance.
While it will be difficult to precisely estimate how many dead bodies have been thrown in the Ganga or buried in the banks in Allahabad and elsewhere or the exact state they originated from, it can be reasonably assumed that they certainly have not been included in official Covid casualty records. Meanwhile, in a remarkable rejuvenation of the now fading genre of investigative journalism, a Gujarati newspaper on May 14 in its in-depth reportage has claimed that there has been a massive official underreporting of Covid deaths in that state. With district-wise details of deaths purportedly due to Covid, the report which by now has created ‘strong waves’ has asserted that although the state issued 1.23 lakh death certificates between March 1-May 10 (this is 65,000 more than those issued in the same period last year), it registered just 4,218 Covid deaths. However, the study titled ‘Estimation of Total Mortality Due to Covid-19’ made by University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation has some more sensational findings. It estimates that between March 2020-May 2021, Covid deaths in India have been undercounted by 4.3 lakh (while roughly 2.48 lakh have been officially declared, actual count may be around 7.36 lakh).
The rising sea of speculations can be calmed only if there’s an impartial judicial probe. The early it comes, the better.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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