Restoring Dignity to the dead

Finally the government has released the excess deaths figures for the COVID pandemic period. The antagonism this regime has for data transparency is unheard of in any democracy. From labs testing for Covid to hospitals and even crematoriums all were regulated by the administration and data was filtered. Media never came up with independent reports, foreign media was demonized for its skepticism. Mass cremations were carried out by the administration and everything was said to be in control. Many epidemiologists believed that excess deaths in India were in excess of 5 million. The latest government estimates show about 2.1 million excess deaths for the year 2021. Even this has not been independently verified. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have the highest ratio of excess deaths as high as 35 times. This again hints at the level of control the government exercised over the administration. The horrors this penchant for control inflicted on the public especially the poor is unforgivable. Millions walked thousands of kilometers in the summer with infants in hand. The lockdown forced the greatest reverse migration from cities to villages, and from manufacturing and services to agriculture. This data suppression is all pervasive. Be it the indefinite delay in conducting the decadal population census, or doing away with economic data and surveys , the data monopoly it craves for is antithetical to democracy, transparency and governance. The government owes it to the people who died during the COVID pandemic to acknowledge and recognize their deaths. It should issue them verified death certificates and compensate their families. It is the least it can do to help restore their dignity.