Skip to main content

India’s 2021 excess deaths: was it the virus — or the containment frenzy?

By Bhaskaran Raman*

Tyagu (name changed), a vegetable vendor recalls of his brother’s death in 2021. The victim had a normal fever, but was forcibly taken away to the hospital saying that it was Covid. He had been coerced into taking the Covid-19 “vaccines” by that time. After 10 days in hospital, he died. There was no proper information during his hospital stay, and no one was allowed to visit, saying that visitors could also get Covid.
Was this death caused by the virus, or virus containment frenzy?
Paresh (name changed), a professor at a college recalls 2021 with deep sadness. He lost his sister in the month of May 2021. She had a mild fever and was advised to get the RT-PCR test, which came positive. She had a kidney failure in hospital in a few days. The family only got the dead body after that. In-between his brother-in-law had loose motions, but no fever or cold; he too got an RT-PCR positive. He too came back in a sealed bag. Even the last rites were conducted by the authorities, not by the family. There was no information on the patients or what medication they were given, during the hospitalization, no visitation was allowed.
Were these deaths caused by the virus, or virus containment frenzy?
The Indian Govt recently released the estimated number of deaths in 2021, based on data from the civil registration system. To no one’s surprise, 2021 showed a significant increase in deaths compared to prior years, i.e. there was significant “excess deaths”. Various “experts” as well as media have been quick to label these excess deaths as being undercounted Covid deaths. This is a complete misrepresentation and misinterpretation of the data as well as of the reality of 2021.
To the contrary, the data shows three things: (1) There was no pandemic or excess deaths in 2020, despite widespread spread of virus, (2) The 2021 excess deaths were primarily caused by panic and the fool’s errand to “contain” the virus, using the unfit-for-purpose PCR test, and (3) Covid-caused deaths were in fact overcounted rather than undercounted.
Little excess deaths in 2020
The above table gives the total deaths registered in the CRS, and the percentage increase in deaths each year. We can see that there was an even lesser increase in 2020 than in 2019. So there is no sign of the so-called “once-in-a-century” pandemic in 2020, as per this data.
The official narrative attributes this to lockdown. But such attribution is wrong, as the virus was spreading widespread in India anyway – none of the “containment” measures worked. For instance, as early as July 2020, 57% of Mumbai’s slum-dwellers showed antibodies from natural exposure. Where were the dead bodies from these slums from the so-called deadly virus? A reality check with any slum-dweller (household workers, office cleaners, taxi/auto drivers) will quickly reveal that there was no deadly virus in their midst in 2020.
Fool’s errand of virus containment
Legend has it that King Canute of England sat at the edge of the sea and ordered the tide to stay back. This was hubris. Virus containment efforts in 2020/2021 were even more of hubris-filled fool’s errand. Worse, all of the containment efforts caused immense damage and deaths.
Ventilators: In April 2020, thousands of people in New York were put on ventilators, not for the patient’s benefit, but toward virus containment. This was later corrected, but thousands had already paid the ultimate price for the containment frenzy.
Remdesivir: Remdesivir was pushed as an effective treatment for Covid, and it was selling in the black market for lakhs of rupees in India in 2021. But remdesivir was already known as poor viral treatment, and was stopped mid-way in a trial for the much more deadly Ebola virus. Worse, a study showed that Covid patients treated with remdesivir spent longer time in the hospital. Even worse, remdesivir is associated with renal failure as well as cardiotoxic effects.
Did Tyagu’s brother and Paresh’s sister die of Covid or of official panic-driven medications like remdesivir? Where is the honesty in probing this?
Inreased risks: Containment frenzy denied the majority of Indians sunlight and exercise for an entire year – increasing Vitamin-D deficiency, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and anxiety – all of which increase anyone’s chance of death – Covid or no-Covid.
Societal destruction: Man is a social animal. Social connections are known to improve physical and mental health – that is why we visit friends/family in hospital. Whereas, containment frenzy saw the total destruction of societal fabric, with everyone considering everyone else as a biohazard. Why would deaths not increase, after one year of such destruction?
Economic destruction: Tens of millions of Indians lost jobs, lost their lifetime savings in the lockdown containment frenzy of 2020. So if an illness hits them shortly after, is the virus to be blamed or the mindless destruction of livelihood?
Given these, the primary likely cause of excess deaths in 2021 was the virus containment frenzy, rather than the virus itself. As 2020 data shows, the virus did not cause widespread excess deaths. The official claim that 2021 somehow saw a more deadly “delta” variant holds no water, and has little scientific evidence. The claim goes against known the virus evolution path of becoming less dangerous over time, and is a mere cover-up for the fool’s errand of virus containment.
Covid deaths overcounted
In the same CRS data, Kerala is supposed to be the state which “counted” Covid deaths most correctly. Nothing could be more absurd. Let us look at the official excess death count in Kerala. It had 3.4 lakh deaths in 2021 compared to 2.5 lakh deaths in 2020, an increase of about 36% ! Whereas the average excess death in 2021 for the whole of India was much lesser at about 26%.
The above conundrum has a simple explanation. Kerala was overcounting so-called Covid deaths by labeling any death following a PCR positive as Covid – as per the official protocol. Anyone who understands the PCR test will immediately tell that it does not detect virus presence, but only viral fragments, which can remain for several months after a person has successfully fought off the virus. Therefore, Kerala (the most among all states) denied healthcare to people based on a unfit-for-purpose PCR test, and hence ended up with a large excess death percentage.
Vaccine-caused deaths in 2021-22
None of the Covid vaccine candidates whose trial started in 2020, have completed phase-3 trial results. Specifically, the Indian governemnt as well as ICMR are till-date dodging the phase-3 trial results of both Covaxin and Covishield. Not just in India, but worldwide, there have been excess deaths following the mass roll-out of the inadequately tested products. India’s own life insurance claims data shows that 2022 has shown almost as high deaths as 2021. There has thus far been no honesty in probing this.
Summary
In summary, there is no doubt that India saw huge excess deaths in 2021. However, the attribution of this to the virus is an achievement of propaganda, rather than any logical analysis of available evidence. There have also been excess deaths in 2022, likely caused due to the unsafe Covid vaccines, and this has been swept under the rug. Indians would do well to learn that most of the media and most official “experts” acted in hubris during the Covid containment frenzy – this has implications for further such containment efforts – such as for bird flu, Nipah virus, etc.
---
*Bhaskaran Raman is a Professor at IIT Bombay; views are personal. He has authored the book “Math Murder in Media Manufactured Madness”, presenting simple math to illustrate various absurdities related to the mainstream Covid-19 narrative; available at: https://tinyurl.com/u5india

Comments

TRENDING

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat*  As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra*   It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit. 

Gujarat Bitcoin scam worth Rs 5,000 crore "linked" with BJP leaders: Need for Supreme Court monitored probe

By Shaktisinh Gohil* BJP hit a jackpot in the form of demonetisation, which it used as an alibi to convert black money into white in Gujarat. Even as party scrambles for answers of how the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), whose director is BJP president Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days, and how Rs 3118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district cooperative banks linked with Gujarat BJP leaders, a new mega Bitcoin scam, worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unraveled.