New Delhi, March 31 -- The scarcity of LPG cylinders has hit India's engineering, management and medical colleges hard. Institutes are adopting diverse workarounds to manage the crisis- shifting to online classes, using diesel burners, switching to induction cooktops, or simply letting students order their meals via food delivery platforms.

The crisis is due to Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which nearly 90% of India's LPG imports pass. The country sources about 60% of its cooking gas from overseas. With the strait closed, supplies have tightened sharply. Commercial kitchens, including those on university campuses, sit at the back of the priority queue, behind domestic households. The impact is now unfoldin...