Delhi's environment minister Gopal Rai issued a high alert in the south and southwest Delhi regions due to prospective locust attack. The sky was covered with hundreds and thousands of locusts on Saturday. The government has been quick to issue warnings and instructions to the residents in the National Capital Region(NCR), including rural west Delhi (Dwarka), Gurugram and Faridabad.

Fig. Swarns of locusts covering the Delhi Sky                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Locusts are related to grasshoppers, these insects form enormous swarms that spread across regions, devouring crops and leaving serious agricultural damage in their wake. Locusts move through several phases before maturing into flying adults. At any point in the process, they can turn gregarious-if conditions are right. Transformations in their behavior and physical traits can eventually be reversed, or they can persist and be passed on to offspring. The main challenge is going to emerge when they start breeding. Last, mature locusts had entered parts of India after a gap of 26 years. But immature locusts have come in this year. Immature locusts are not fully grown and have the capacity to cause more harm. They also have a longer lifespan. This locust attach has affected about 90,000 hectares across 20 districts in Rajasthan. The locusts which entered India were about 10-12 days old and were flying distances in search of food. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, however, has warned of more such attacks along both sides of the India-Pakistan border.