Consider the following statements: 1) In terms of short-term credit delivery to the agriculture sector, District Central cooperative Banks (DCCBs) deliver more credit in comparison to Scheduled Commercial Banks and Regional Rural Banks. 2) One of the most important functions of DCCBs is to provide funds to the primary Agricultural Credit Societies Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Statement 2 is correct and statement 1 is not, so the answer is B. DCCBs sit in the middle tier of the three-tier short-term cooperative structure (State Cooperative Bank, DCCB, PACS). Their main job is to pool deposits and refinance the primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), which lend to farmers at the village level. That is the core function the second statement describes.

Statement 1 fails on volume. Scheduled Commercial Banks account for the largest share of short-term crop loans, well above DCCBs, and RRBs also disburse more agri credit than DCCBs in most years. NABARD's annual credit data consistently shows commercial banks leading. Keep in mind that shares shift slightly year to year, but the ranking has not reversed.

• Option A is wrong because statement 2 is also correct.
• Option C is wrong because statement 1 is false.
• Option D is wrong because statement 2 is true.

Mains angle: the cooperative credit structure, its weak governance and the reform debate on the Vaidyanathan Committee recommendations, which is a frequent GS-III and GS-II theme.

Trap: candidates pick C because DCCBs look like the backbone of rural credit. Remember that their role is refinancing PACS, not dominating disbursement.