Which of the following pairs is not correctly matched?

The incorrect pair is D: Simlipal National Park - Madhya Pradesh. Simlipal is in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, not Madhya Pradesh. It is a Project Tiger reserve and a Biosphere Reserve, and its national park status dates from 1980.

The other three pairs are correct. Bandipur National Park is in Karnataka, part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and a Project Tiger reserve. Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is in Assam, on the Indo-Bhutan border, and is a World Heritage Site. Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary is in Kerala's Idukki district, around the Periyar lake at Thekkady.

The core concept is the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Project Tiger (1973), which shaped the protected area network. For Mains, use this to discuss the trade-off between conservation and the livelihoods of tribal and forest-dependent communities.

Trap: Aspirants who know the big tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh, such as Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Panna, often assume Simlipal lies there too. Check the state before accepting any park-state pair.