Under the Kisan Credit Card scheme, short-term credit support is given to farmers for which of the following purposes? 1) Working capital for maintenance of farm assets 2) Purchase of combine harvesters, tractors and mini trucks 3) Consumption requirements of farm households 4) Post-harvest expenses 5) Construction of family house and setting up of village cold storage facility Select the correct answer using the code given below:

The correct answer is B (1, 3 and 4 only). KCC is a short-term credit line, so it covers working capital and running expenses of farming. Statement 1 is correct because KCC funds maintenance of farm assets such as repairs and upkeep. Statement 3 is correct because it covers consumption needs of farm households until the next harvest. Statement 4 is correct because post-harvest expenses such as threshing, transport and marketing are part of the short-term cycle.

• Statement 2 is wrong: combine harvesters, tractors and mini trucks are capital assets financed through term loans, not short-term KCC credit.
• Statement 5 is wrong: construction of a family house and village cold storage are long-term investments, outside the KCC's short-term scope.

Every option except B includes statement 2 or 5, so eliminating those two gets you to B quickly. The core concept is the distinction between short-term crop and working-capital credit and term credit for assets. This links to the Mains theme of institutional credit to agriculture, the role of NABARD and banks, and farmer indebtedness. The KCC's scope has been widened over time, including to allied sectors, so check the current guidelines rather than relying on old lists.

Trap: aspirants see tractors or cold storage as 'farm-related' and assume KCC covers them. The test is whether the expense is short-term and recurring or a long-term asset.