The core area of a tiger reserve is notified as a critical tiger habitat under which Act?

The correct answer is B, 1973. Project Tiger began on 1 April 1973 as a centrally sponsored scheme with nine reserves, after the tiger replaced the lion as the national animal and a census showed a steep fall in numbers. Option A is wrong because 1972 is the year of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, the law under which reserves and protected areas are notified; the Act came first and the scheme followed. Option C is wrong because 1980 is the year of the Forest (Conservation) Act, which restricts the diversion of forest land. Option D is wrong because 1992 is the year Project Elephant was launched, and examiners frequently pair the two schemes to see whether a candidate can separate them. Keep the chain in mind: Act of 1972, Project Tiger 1973, Project Elephant 1992, NTCA 2006.

The correct answer is B, the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006. Acting on the report of the Tiger Task Force appointed after the loss of the tigers of Sariska, Parliament amended the Act of 1972 in 2006 to insert Chapter IV-B, which created the National Tiger Conservation Authority and also the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. Option A is wrong because the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is the umbrella environmental law passed after the Bhopal gas tragedy and sets up no tiger authority. Option C is wrong because the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 created the National Biodiversity Authority at Chennai and the biodiversity management committees. Option D is wrong because the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 regulates the use of forest land for non-forest purposes. The NTCA is chaired by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The correct answer is B, Jim Corbett National Park. It was notified in 1936 as Hailey National Park, the first national park in India, was later renamed after the hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett, and was among the nine reserves with which Project Tiger started in 1973. Option A is wrong because Kanha in Madhya Pradesh, though one of the first nine reserves and the home of the hard-ground barasingha, was notified as a national park in 1955. Option C is wrong because Bandipur in Karnataka was also among the first nine but is younger as a park. Option D is wrong because Kaziranga in Assam, famous for the one-horned rhinoceros, became a tiger reserve only in 2006, long after Project Tiger began. The safe pairing to memorise is Corbett with 1936 and with Uttarakhand.

The correct answer is B, Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve. Spread across the Nallamala hills in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana along the Krishna river, it is the largest tiger reserve in the country by area, and its division between two States after 2014 is itself a question. Option A is wrong because the Sundarbans in West Bengal, though unique as the only mangrove tiger habitat, is far smaller. Option C is wrong because Melghat in the Satpura ranges of Maharashtra, one of the first nine reserves, is large but not the largest. Option D is wrong because Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh, notable for being home to four big cats, is also smaller. The companion fact is the smallest reserve, Bor in the Wardha district of Maharashtra. Remember also that this reserve lies in the Nallamala hills along the Krishna river and that the Srisailam dam divides it, a detail papers use to disguise the name.

The correct answer is C, Maharashtra. Bor Tiger Reserve lies in the Wardha district of Maharashtra, near Nagpur, and is the smallest tiger reserve in the country; it is part of the central Indian landscape that also holds Tadoba-Andhari, Pench, Melghat and Navegaon-Nagzira. Option A is wrong because Madhya Pradesh has Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna, Satpura, Pench and Sanjay-Dubri, but not Bor. Option B is wrong because Chhattisgarh has Indravati, Udanti-Sitanadi and Achanakmar. Option D is wrong because Odisha has Simlipal and Satkosia. A trap worth noting is Pench, which is a tiger reserve in both Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, so a question naming only Pench is incomplete unless the state is given. Bor was first a wildlife sanctuary and was raised to the status of a tiger reserve later, which is why older lists of reserves do not carry its name at all, and candidates who learnt only the older list miss this question.