Chief Minister stated in his letter to PM Modi that 18 out of the 31 districts in the state had recorded "deficit to large-deficit rainfall" until July 11,Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in sending a Central Government team to assess the emerging drought situation in Karnataka, citing a “sluggish” July monsoon that has severely affected the state’s agriculture and raised concerns over the ongoing kharif season.“Such a visit would provide a first-hand appreciation of the severity of the emerging drought conditions and reassure the farming community that the Government of India stands with them in this difficult period. Early assessment and timely support from the Government of India would greatly strengthen the State’s efforts to mitigate the adverse impacts of the evolving drought situation,” the Karnataka CM stated in a letter dated July 14.While outlining the emerging crisis in the state, Shivakumar stated that Karnataka received 203 mm of rainfall on July 11 as against the normal of 292 mm, registering a 30 per cent rainfall deficit. “The progress of the South-West Monsoon over Karnataka has been notably sluggish,” he said.Also Read | Karnataka CM Shivakumar warns of drought, asks farmers to avoid water-heavy cropsEighteen out of the 31 districts in the state had recorded “deficit to large-deficit rainfall” until July 11, while 141 out of 240 taluks also fell into this category, indicating that the rainfall deficiency is widespread across the state, he stated.“As of the first week of July 2026, kharif sowing has covered only 28.36 lakh hectares, representing merely 34 per cent of the seasonal target of 84.10 lakh hectares, reflecting the growing impact of the deficient monsoon on agricultural operations,” Shivakumar said in the letter.Any significant decline in production due to the drought conditions is likely to have wider implications for the national availability and prices of pulses, especially tur dal, he said.The combined storage in Karnataka’s 14 major reservoirs was also only 303 TMC as of July 10, which is merely 34 per cent of the total gross storage capacity of 895.65 TMC, he said.