In which Indian state is the Corbett Tiger Reserve located?
- (a)Rajasthan
- (b)Madhya Pradesh
- (c)Uttarakhand
- (d)West Bengal
Correct — C, Uttarakhand. Corbett Tiger Reserve (Jim Corbett National Park) lies in Uttarakhand's Nainital and Pauri Garhwal districts, along the Ramganga river. Originally established in 1936 as Hailey National Park — India's first national park — it was renamed after hunter-turned-conservationist Jim Corbett in 1957 and became India's first Tiger Reserve when Project Tiger was launched in 1973.
- (a)Rajasthan — Wrong state — Rajasthan's well-known tiger reserves are Ranthambore and Sariska, not Corbett.
- (b)Madhya Pradesh — A tempting trap since MP has India's largest number of tiger reserves (Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura, Panna), but Corbett itself is not one of them.
- (d)West Bengal — Wrong state — West Bengal's tiger reserve is the Sundarbans, not Corbett.
Corbett Tiger Reserve sits in the Shivalik foothills of Uttarakhand and was the first of the nine original reserves notified under Project Tiger in 1973 — independent India's flagship tiger-conservation programme. Before that, the same forest tract had already made history in 1936 as Hailey National Park, India's very first national park.
Because Madhya Pradesh is popularly branded India's 'Tiger State' (most reserves, highest tiger count in recent censuses), students often reflexively pick MP for any famous-tiger-reserve question. The fix is to anchor named landmarks — Corbett, Ranthambore, Sundarbans — to their actual state rather than the state most associated with the category.
- Corbett Tiger Reserve is in Uttarakhand (Nainital & Pauri Garhwal districts), on the Ramganga river
- India's first Tiger Reserve, declared in 1973 under Project Tiger
- Originally Hailey National Park (1936) — India's first national park; renamed for Jim Corbett in 1957
- Madhya Pradesh has India's highest number of tiger reserves, but Corbett is not among them
- Picking Madhya Pradesh by reflex because it has the most tiger reserves
- Confusing Corbett (Uttarakhand) with Ranthambore/Sariska (Rajasthan) or Sundarbans (West Bengal)
MPPSC and UPSC often test 'reserve/park : state' matching or 'which was the first X' facts — lock named landmarks to their actual state rather than the state most associated with that category.
Consider the following pairs : 1. Dampa Tiger Reserve : Mizoram 2. Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary : Sikkim 3. Saramati Peak : Nagaland Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(c) 1 and 3 only — Dampa Tiger Reserve is in Mizoram and Saramati Peak is in Nagaland; Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary is actually in Tripura, not Sikkim.
Different named reserves, but the same tested skill — correctly matching a protected area to its actual state rather than a plausible-sounding one.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which was the first National Park to be established in India (in 1936), later renamed after a hunter-conservationist?
- (a)Kaziranga National Park
- (b)Hailey National Park (now Jim Corbett National Park)
- (c)Gir National Park
- (d)Kanha National Park
Answer(b) Hailey National Park — renamed Jim Corbett National Park in 1957; India's first national park (1936).
- practice — not a real PYQ
India's tiger-conservation programme, 'Project Tiger', was launched in which year?
- (a)1969
- (b)1973
- (c)1980
- (d)1992
Answer(b) 1973 — Corbett Tiger Reserve was one of the first nine reserves notified.