The Nitish Kumar administration was especially taken to task by the Supreme Court on Wednesday for its 'denial' mode to the severe drought situation in large parts of Bihar. Hearing a PIL filed by Swaraj Abhiyan seeking relief for drought-hit regions in the country, the court said in the case of Bihar, two definite conclusions could be arrived at. First, the information provided by the State did not reflect the ground situation in districts or tehsils or blocks. Instead, it was intended to reflect the position in the entire State. "We have already mentioned that drought conditions may exist in a taluka, tehsil or block, but not necessarily in the entire district or State and that is why the micro-level information should be considered." Second, it was quite clear that there was deficit rainfall for the period June to September 2015 in 19 of the 38 districts in Bihar and the situation got progressively worse. If the coverage for the entire State in this period was considered, the deficit would be 27 percent. By October 30, the deficit grew to 31 percent. The area under sowing was considerable during June and July 2015, but the status of the Kharif crop thereafter was not disclosed. Was it wilting due to deficit rain and low moisture or was there an adequate network of canals, ponds and bore wells? Also the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in August 2015 was generally good in most areas, except for some parts of Bihar. The situation at the end of September 2015 and thereafter was not known. The Moisture Adequacy Index (MAI) for Bihar showed that large areas were facing a moderate or mild drought as on 30th September 2015. "Under the circumstances, it appears to us that there is more than sufficient material to suggest that there is a perceptible threat of a mild or moderate drought in some districts, tehsils or blocks of Bihar. The unfortunate part of the exercise undertaken by us is that Bihar is in a state of denial," said the court.