When was 'Project Tiger' launched in India?

The correct answer is D) 1973. Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 at Jim Corbett National Park, then called Hailey National Park, in Uttarakhand. It is a centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, aimed at tiger conservation through reserves managed on a core-buffer model.

• A) 1968: Not the launch year. No tiger conservation programme of national scale began then.
• B) 1972: This is the year of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which is the legal base for protected areas. Project Tiger came a year later, which is why this option is the usual trap.
• C) 1984: Not linked to Project Tiger's launch.

The core concept is the institutional framework: Project Tiger is now backed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, a statutory body created in 2005 after the Tiger Task Force report and given legal force through amendments to the Wildlife (Protection) Act. For Mains, link this to human-wildlife conflict, relocation of villages from core areas, and the balance between conservation and tribal livelihoods.

Trap: Confusing the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 with Project Tiger's launch year, which is 1973.