Counting the true death toll

When somebody dies, there may or may not be a medical death certificate

The World Health Organization estimates 4.7 million Indians died of Covid-related causes through 2020 and 2021. The Indian government estimates the death toll from Covid was about 481,000. The semantics of “Covid” and Covid-related” aside, the 10X discrepancy is too large to ignore.

Arguing about the data leads into a political battle because the government feels it is bad for its image to admit to a massive death toll. That is a pity because the controversy about the data has arisen largely because of holes in the data-collection apparatus. What’s more, the largest and the most-backward of states, where the largest