Bhasker Tripathi

Climate-driven shocks, coupled with scant finance and government action, will leave nearly 600 million people living in hunger by 2030, the head of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) told Context in an interview.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday's launch of the report on the global state of hunger and nutrition, IFAD president Alvaro Lario said that missing the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030 would lead to more forced migration, fewer new jobs and worsening conflict over resources, especially in regions with growing populations such as Africa.

When Prime Minister Narenda Modi's new government announces the national budget this week, Indians will be looking for clues on how he will tackle unemployment, a major grievance among voters who deprived him of a clear majority in last month's election.

While the Indian economy is seen growing at a fast clip of 7.2% this year, job creation has lagged.

The withering heatwave hitting northern India has dealt a double blow to market fruit and vegetable sellers - more of their produce is spoilt, while buyers stay at home and ordering online.

Sahil, in his mid-30s, migrated to Delhi a decade ago and runs a roadside stall selling vegetables. This summer has "broken my back", he said. 

The Nigerian student only popped out to repair his phone but he ended up in a New Delhi hospital, the latest victim of a brutal heatwave that has cost scores of lives, sent birds plummeting from the sky and tormented India's poorest workers.

On that sweltering June day, the business administration student collapsed in the street and strangers rushed him to the nearby Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital, one of the country's largest. 

When all else fails, Satveer Singh knows his family will manage if they have a sack of wheat flour in the kitchen to make rotis. Served hot and stuffed with sliced raw onion, the simple meal of Indian flatbreads keeps hunger at bay.

For now, the family can just about cover their needs - thanks in part to the ration they receive from a government programme that distributes food to 800 million people across India.

I was outside a polling station in northern India when my body and phones gave up, succumbing to the crushing heat that beat down on voters' heads during India's mammoth six-week election.

Sweating and weak, I stumbled to a small mud hut nearby where I found a group of election workers huddled together among sacks of grain, desperate for the meagre shelter offered by the thatched roof.

At home in one of India's poorest districts, 35-year-old Vandana has been trying to come up with new ways to cook potatoes - the only food she has been able to buy for months as pulses and vegetables become an occasional luxury.

Vandana's husband, who works as a construction labourer in Delhi, used to be able to send her 3,000-4,000 rupees ($36-$48) each month, but that has been much harder over the last five years, she said.

Lakshmi Narayan was one of the first to see the light: in 2020 the engineer put solar panels on his roof in India's Bhopal city, becoming a clean energy pioneer because of his desire to help his country move away from planet-heating fossil fuels. 

"I understand the importance of renewable energy and thought that everyone should adopt it," said Narayan, 60, whose action inspired many others to do the same in the capital of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. 

Finding a decent job was 23-year-old Shikher's only goal when he left his village in northern India for the capital two years ago, but things did not go exactly as planned.

At first, he worked in a factory making cellphone chargers for just 8,000 rupees ($96) a month. Exhausted by the 12-hour shifts, he turned to gig work as a delivery rider for an online grocery platform - still his job today.

Campaign rallies under a blazing sun, long treks to rural polling stations - as Indians prepare to vote, forecasts for extreme heat could add to the challenges of holding the world's biggest election.

With voting starting on Friday, parties and authorities are being urged to do more to keep voters, candidates and polling station staff safe following heat warnings by the nation's meteorological service for the six-week election period.