  Metre wavelength type II solar radio bursts are believed to be the signatures
of shock-accelerated electrons in the corona. Studying these bursts can give
information about the initial kinematics, dynamics and energetics of CMEs in
the absence of white-light observations. In this study, we investigate the
occurrence of type II bursts in solar cycles 23 and 24 and their association
with coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We also explore the possibility of
occurrence of type II bursts in the absence of a CME. We performed statistical
analysis of type II bursts that occurred between 200 - 25 MHz in solar cycle 23
and 24 and found the temporal association of these radio bursts with CMEs. We
categorised the CMEs based on their linear speed and angular width, and studied
the distribution of type II bursts with `fast' ($speed ~\geq 500 km/s$), `slow'
($speed ~< 500 km/s$), `wide' ($width ~\geq 60^o$) and `narrow' ($width ~<
60^o$) CMEs. We explored the type II bursts occurrence dependency with solar
cycle phases. Our results suggest that type II bursts dominate at heights
$\approx 1.7 - 2.3 \pm 0.3 ~R_{\odot}$ with a clear majority having an onset
height around 1.7 $\pm 0.3~R_{\odot}$ assuming the four-fold Newkirk model. The
results indicate that most of the type II bursts had a white-light CME
counterpart, however there were a few type II which did not have a clear CME
association. There were more CMEs in cycle 24 than cycle 24. However, the
number of type II radio bursts were less in cycle 24 compared to cycle 23. The
onset heights of type IIs and their association with wide CMEs reported in this
study indicate that the early CME lateral expansion may play a key role in the
generation of these radio bursts.
