National Parks

Tiger reserves are protected areas across the bio geographical regions in India, aimed at protecting the Bangal Tigers. This is part of the Project Tiger, initiated in 1972 to maintain the tiger population in their natural habitat.

During 19th century and estimated number of 45000 tigers were present in India, but a survey conducted in 1972 revealed that only 1800 tigers left in the wild of India. This alarmed the authorities in India and globally for an initiative to protect the big cats from extinction, in 1973 the project tiger launched in Corbett national park and other tiger reserves started across the country.

A national park is a reserve of land, usually declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. National parks are protected areas of IUCN category II. The largest national park in the world is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. According to The World Conservation Union IUCN, there are now 6,555 national parks worldwide (2006 figure)(Wikipedia)

There are 166 approved national parks in India, please see the state wise numbers of national parks