As per the IANS-CVoter Issues That Dominated India 2021, about 2.5 lakh Indians officially died during the devastating second wave of the pandemic in 2021. But the actual numbers could be far higher.
The IANS-CVoter Covid tracker and municipality records indicate the actual dead were multiple times the official numbers. Will we ever get to know the true numbers?
On the conservative side, 4 per cent households in the Covid Tracker consistently reported a death within friend/family circle due to Covid and a follow up Mortality survey confirmed that the number of households reporting a death in 2021 was more than two times of a "normal" year in 2019.
Many individuals and institutions in India as well as globally had far higher estimates. With some suggesting that the actual number of deaths during the second wave was 15 times more than the official estimate.
More compelling than these numbers would be the devastating pictures of funeral pyres running through the day and night and dead bodies floating in rivers.
Sections of global media did display an unhealthy obsession with tragedy and dead bodies; but Indians still recall the haunting cries for help on social media from family members of patients for oxygen and medicines.
This did have an adverse impact on the image of the government, with more than 40 per cent Indians saying they were angry with the way the Modi regime handled the second wave.
As Omicron spreads rapidly and a third wave is knocking, if it has not already barged in, Indians are hoping they are third time lucky with the virus.