Project Tiger was launched in 1973 for conserving the tiger. From 9 tiger reserves since its formative years, the Project Tiger coverage has increased to 50, spread out in 18 of tiger range states. These reserves are constituted on a core / buffer strategy. The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non- forest land, managed as a multiple use area. It is an ongoing scheme of this Ministry providing central assistance to the tiger states for conservation. The NTCA / Project Tiger also conducts the country level assessment of the status of tiger, co-predators, prey and habitat once in four years, using the refined methodology, as approved by the Tiger Task Force. Due to the concerted efforts under the Project, India has the distinction of having the maximum number of tigers in the world – 2,967 – to be precise, as per the results of the 4th cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation. The tiger corridors for gene flow have been mapped in the GIS domain. After seeing the success of Project Tiger, the government updated the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. This ensures that along with tigers, other wildlife also gets protected. One by one, every national park took an initiative to save endangered species. For example – Gir conserves lions, and Kaziranga conserves one-horned rhinos.
International Tiger’s Day is held every year on 29th July to raise public awareness and support regarding several issues related to tiger conservation. The idea behind such an event came up at the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010. It was also decided that 29th July would be known as Global Tiger Day. During the summit, a panel of experts declared a goal towards tiger conservation, which was to double its population by 2022.