A report by the Civil Registration System (CRS) has revealed that Covid-19 deaths in India during 2021 may have been underreported by as much as six times, prompting a lawmaker to demand a nationwide audit to determine how many families have been excluded from compensation.
John Brittas, a member of parliament for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), wrote to the Union Health Minister following the CRS release on May 7, which confirmed a “huge” discrepancy in the death toll.
The report showed about 2 million excess deaths in 2021, compared to the government’s official figure of 330,000 for that year, according to Asianews.
Brittas described the findings as a “disturbing discrepancy” and called on the government to “issue urgent instructions to conduct a comprehensive nationwide audit to ascertain how many families have received ex gratia compensation against the official and estimated death counts.”
In his letter dated May 13, Brittas referenced the Supreme Court’s October 4, 2021 order mandating compensation of ₹50,000 (around €500) to the next of kin of Covid-19 victims. The court had ruled that the payment should be made in addition to any other relief already extended.
Calling the Supreme Court directive “a gesture of solidarity from the nation,” Brittas emphasized that “its true intent could only be achieved through transparent implementation.”
He warned that many families may have missed out on the compensation due to a lack of awareness or resources to navigate the application process.
“Compensation must be extended to all legitimate and verifiable next of kin,” he wrote, adding that without “robust outreach, legal assistance or victim identification, thousands of deserving claimants continue to be left out.”
“Has there been any effort to identify and assist those whose loved ones have died during the pandemic but whose deaths have not been officially recorded as COVID-related due to testing limitations, medical ambiguities or bureaucratic oversights in several states?” the lawmaker asked.
Brittas called for “a transparent and inclusive mechanism to ensure compensation is extended to all close relatives of those reflected in excess mortality data” and urged the government to implement “relaxed documentation rules where necessary and a robust appeals mechanism.”
The CRS data highlighted Gujarat as having the largest undercount, with excess deaths reportedly 33 times higher than the state’s official Covid-19 fatality figure.
This discrepancy has prevented millions of families—particularly from marginalized communities—from receiving the mandated compensation, potentially saving the government an estimated ₹10,000 crore (about €1 billion).
Although not all excess deaths can be directly attributed to the virus, the report noted that the “timing and scale strongly suggest that the virus was the primary factor.”
