A city in western India has suffered through the country's highest recorded temperature .
The record - a scorching 51C (123.8F) - was set in the city of Phalodi, in the western state of Rajasthan.
India's meteorological department said the previous high was 50.6C (123 F), reached in 1956 in the city of Alwar, also in Rajasthan.
Authorities have issued a severe heatwave alert for the next two days in the western states of Gujarat and Rajasthan and parts of the central state of Madhya Pradesh. That means the areas can expect temperatures of 47C (116.6F) or more.
The main summer months - April, May and June - are extremely hot across most parts of India before monsoon rains and cooler temperatures arrive.
The monsoon hits southern India in the first week of June and covers the rest of the country within a month.
This year - as temperatures hit new highs - the monsoon is especially eagerly awaited as several parts of the country are reeling under a drought brought on by two years of weak rains.
The prolonged heatwave this year has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states, impacting hundreds of millions of Indians.
Hundreds of farmers are reported to have killed themselves across the country and tens of thousands of small farmers have been forced to abandon their farmland and live in squalor in urban slums to earn a living.
Rivers, lakes and dams have dried up in many parts of the western states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, and officials say overall groundwater reservoirs are severely depleted.
In some areas, the situation is so bad the government has sent in water by train for emergency relief.
PA
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