Which one among the following is the largest tiger reserve of India in terms of area of the core/critical tiger habitat ?
- (a)Manas
- (b)Pakke
- (c)Nagarjunasagar Srisailam
- (d)Periyar
Correct — C, Nagarjunasagar Srisailam. This reserve in the Nallamala Hills has a core or critical tiger habitat of about 2,595 square kilometres, the largest of any tiger reserve in India, and its total area of roughly 3,700 square kilometres also makes it the biggest tiger reserve overall. It spreads across five districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on the dissected plateau flanking the Krishna river, and the two great reservoirs of Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam that give it its name lie within it. None of the other three options comes close: their cores are 526 square kilometres for Manas, 683 for Pakke and 881 for Periyar.
- (a)Manas — Manas in Assam has a core of about 526 square kilometres, the smallest of the four. It is a celebrated reserve — a tiger reserve, a national park, a biosphere reserve and a natural World Heritage Site — but fame is not area.
- (b)Pakke — Pakke in Arunachal Pradesh has a core of about 683 square kilometres. It is best known for its hornbill conservation work with local communities, not for its size.
- (d)Periyar — Periyar in Kerala has a core of about 881 square kilometres — the largest of the three wrong options, and therefore the nearest miss, but still well under half the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam figure.
Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 with nine reserves, and each tiger reserve is now notified in two parts. The core or critical tiger habitat is kept as inviolate as possible for the tigers, while a surrounding buffer allows regulated human use. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, set up under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, oversees the network and publishes the core and buffer areas of every reserve, which is where a question like this gets its numbers. India carried out its all-India tiger estimation every four years, and the country holds the great majority of the world's wild tigers.
The stem is precise about which number it wants — the area of the core or critical tiger habitat, not the total area of the reserve — and that precision matters, because for many reserves the two rankings differ. In this case they happen to agree, since Nagarjunasagar Srisailam leads on both, so the item is forgiving; but a candidate should get into the habit of checking which figure is being asked for. Anchor the surrounding numbers to their dates. When this paper was set in April 2018 there were fifty notified tiger reserves in the country, the most recent additions being Orang and Kamlang in 2016. The figure has since risen to fifty-eight as of March 2025, so a candidate quoting a count today must quote the current one. The area figures for the four reserves named here have not changed, and neither has the answer.
- Nagarjunasagar Srisailam has a core or critical tiger habitat of about 2,595 sq km, the largest in India.
- Its total area of about 3,700 sq km also makes it India's largest tiger reserve overall.
- It lies in the Nallamala Hills, across districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- Core areas of the other options — Manas about 526 sq km, Pakke about 683 sq km, Periyar about 881 sq km.
- India had 50 tiger reserves at the time of this 2018 exam and 58 as of March 2025.
- Answering with the total reserve area when the stem asks specifically for the core habitat.
- Choosing the most famous reserve rather than the largest one.
- Quoting a count of tiger reserves without dating it; the number has risen since this paper was set.
NDA asks for the largest, the oldest or the first tiger reserve, or pairs reserves with their States, and has also asked candidates to arrange reserves from north to south.
Consider the following protected areas: 1. Bandipur 2. Bhitarkanika 3. Manas 4. Sunderbans Which of the above are declared Tiger Reserves?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 1, 3 and 4 only
- (c) 2, 3 and 4 only
- (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer(b) 1, 3 and 4 only
Manas appears here too, and UPSC confirms its status as a tiger reserve — which is why it is a plausible wrong option in the NDA item, where the test is size rather than status.
Which one among the following is the correct order of tiger reserves situated from North to South in India ?
- (a) Corbett – Simlipal – Sariska – Periyar
- (b) Periyar – Sariska – Simlipal – Corbett
- (c) Corbett – Sariska – Simlipal – Periyar
- (d) Periyar – Simlipal – Sariska – Corbett
Answer(c) Corbett – Sariska – Simlipal – Periyar
The same topic set one year earlier, tested on location instead of area. Periyar anchors the southern end there and is the nearest miss here, so it repays knowing both its place and its size.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Project Tiger was launched in India in the year
- (a)1972
- (b)1973
- (c)1980
- (d)1992
Answer(b) 1973 — launched on 1 April 1973 with nine reserves, a year after the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve is spread over which of the following States?
- (a)Karnataka and Kerala
- (b)Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
- (c)Odisha and Chhattisgarh
- (d)Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
Answer(b) Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — it lies in the Nallamala Hills flanking the Krishna river.