Tigers are considered a cardinal part of any forested area, owing to their stupendous juxtaposition in qualities of being fierce and awe-inspiring to admire at. With their exceptional capability to catch prey and again at times the manner in which they await or fool their prey, makes this animalistic relationship of the killer and the killed, a marvellous one. India is a country that is primarily recognised and acknowledged for its huge tracts of forests, flora and fauna and several unexplored wooded areas that are yet to see the modernity of humanity.
The government has tried every possible means to shed light upon those darkened areas in the forests, bringing the pack of tigers under a possible count amidst the forests. Hence, the tiger reserves in India are upgraded and revamped at appropriate moments, with necessary requirements being introduced as necessary inputs. However, poaching and surreptitious killings of tigers is a major setback that perhaps is putting a serious hindrance to protective measures in the tiger reserves within the country.
Keeping this very solemn aim in view to preserve the tiger reserves in India, Project Tiger was launched by the Government of India in 1973 to save this much endangered species. Commencing from nine reserves in 1973-74, the number has presently shot up to twenty nine. A total surface area of 38,620 sq. km. is covered by these project tiger areas, which stands to 1.17 percent of the total geographical area of the country. In fact, the beauty that underlines these tiger reserves and national parks solely dedicated to the mighty animal is that, India has been thoroughly gifted with such parklands from all the four corners of the country. Beginning from Arunachal Pradesh in the far eastern corner, to Rajasthan in the west, to Uttarakhand in the north and Kerala down far south, tigers abide and roam free within the space created for their own.
Some of the rather much-visited and much-admired tiger reserves in the country include Jim Corbett National Park, Kanha Tiger Reserve, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Kaziranga National Park, Periyar Tiger Reserve and the Sunderbans.
