Uttar Pradesh

An unusually early, record-shattering heat wave in India has reduced wheat yields, raising questions about how the country will balance its domestic needs with ambitions to increase exports and make up for shortfalls due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

In a surprise announcement, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Nov. 19 his government will withdraw the controversial farm laws that prompted year-long protests from tens of thousands of farmers and posed a significant political challenge to his administration.

In Jamsoti, a village tucked deep inside India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the common refrain among the villagers is that the coronavirus spreads only in cities. The deadly infection, they believe, does not exist in villages.

"It's like we are in the middle of the apocalypse," says 40-year-old Pia Desai, who lives in New Delhi, at the centre of the coronavirus crisis that has brought India's healthcare system to its knees.

At least 22 Covid patients have died in a hospital in India after they lost oxygen supply due to a leak.

The incident occurred on Wednesday while an oxygen tanker was refilling a storage tank at the Zakir Hussain hospital in Nashik city. It's unclear how the accident happened and why it interrupted supply to patients.

India's coronavirus tally crossed the 9.3 million mark on Friday after 43,082 new infections were reported in last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

This night in the Indian capital Delhi, the temperature was 4.2 degrees Celsius, which is about 6 degrees below average for the season. This is the lowest temperature in 22 years, DPA reported.

Local authorities in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other Indian states are preparing to open shelters and distribute firewood and blankets to homeless people.

Violent protests against India's citizenship law that excludes Muslim immigrants swept the country over the weekend despite the government's ban on public assembly and suspension of internet services in many parts, raising the nationwide death toll to 23, police said.

Thousands of people joined fresh rallies against a contentious citizenship law in India on Dec. 21, with 20 killed so far in the unrest.    

The death toll jumped after demonstrations turned violent on Dec. 20 in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, leaving at least 11 dead including an eight-year-old boy, who was trampled.    

Four public transport buses in the capital were set on fire, while others were seriously damaged in mass protests against the new citizenship act.

Police are using tear gas against students at Jamia Millia Islamia University in the southern part of the capital. More than 100 activists and 35 police officers, including some senior officers, were injured.