Heat wave scorches India's wheat crop

An early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields. The heat wave is raising questions about how India will balance its domestic needs with goals to increase exports and make up for shortfalls.

Huge landfills in New Delhi have caught fire in recent weeks. Temperatures breached the 45 C mark in nine other cities.

India's vulnerability to extreme heat increased 15% from 1990 to 2019, according to a 2021 report by the medical journal The Lancet. Punjab is India's "grain bowl" and the government has encouraged cultivation of wheat and rice here since the 1960s.

It is typically the biggest contributor to India's national reserves and the government had hoped to buy about a third of this year's stock from the region.