Daily Static Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
Keibul Lamjao National Park is located in Manipur, floating on the phumdis of Loktak Lake. It is the last natural habitat of the Sangai (Brow-antlered Deer), Manipur's state animal.
- Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand was India's first National Park, established in 1936 — originally called Hailey National Park.
- Jim Corbett National Park was the first tiger reserve to be established under Project Tiger in 1973.
Statement 1 is correct — Jim Corbett National Park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, India's first National Park, later renamed after the conservationist Jim Corbett. Statement 2 is also correct, since Corbett was the first reserve included under Project Tiger when it was launched in 1973 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, making it doubly significant in Indian conservation history.
Option (d) is incorrect — Namdapha National Park is in Arunachal Pradesh, not Assam. It is indeed unique as the only Indian park believed to harbour all four large feline species, but its state attribution here is wrong, making this a classic state-misattribution trap. Options (a), (b), and (c) are all factually correct.
- Assertion (A): India's tiger population has shown a consistent increase — from an estimated 1,411 in 2006 to approximately 3,682–3,925 in 2022.
- Reason (R): Project Tiger (1973), the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), dedicated tiger reserves, anti-poaching measures, and community involvement have collectively contributed to this recovery.
Assertion A is correct — India's tiger census shows remarkable recovery, from roughly 1,411 in 2006 to roughly 3,682–3,925 in 2022, with India now holding approximately 75% of the world's wild tiger population. Reason R is correct and directly explains A, since the legal framework of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, Project Tiger, 53 Tiger Reserves, camera-trap monitoring, anti-poaching squads, and eco-development of buffer communities are the collective drivers of this recovery.
- A Wildlife Sanctuary allows limited human activities such as regulated grazing and collection of forest produce — unlike a National Park where no such activities are permitted.
- Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves were added as protected area categories under the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2002.
- India has the largest network of protected areas in the world in terms of total number of sites.
Statement 1 is correct — National Parks are the strictest category, with no human activity permitted without authorisation, while Wildlife Sanctuaries permit limited human activities such as regulated grazing and minor forest produce collection. Statement 2 is correct, as Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves were introduced by the WPA Amendment Act, 2002, creating community-centred protected area categories. Statement 3 is incorrect, since India does not have the largest protected area network by number of sites globally — that distinction belongs to countries like the USA and Australia — with India having over 900 protected areas but not being the global largest.
