Project Tiger

• It was launched on April 1, 1973 to ensure maintenance of viable population of the tigers in India.

• There are 29 tiger reserves in the country:

Tiger Reserve	State
Bandipur	Karnataka
Corbett	Uttarakhand
Kanha	Madhya Pradesh
Manas	Asom
Melghat	Maharashtra
Palamau	Jharkhand
Ranthambhore	Rajasthan
Similipal	Orissa
Sunderbans	West Bengal
Periyar	Kerala
Sariska	Rajasthan
Buxa	West Bengal
Indravati	Chattisgarh
Nagariunsagar	Andhra Pradesh
Namdapha	Arunachal Pradesh
Dudhwa	Uttar Pradesh
Kalakad-Mundanthurai	Tamil Nadu
Valmiki	Bihar
Pencil	Madhya Pradesh
Tadoba-Andhari	Maharashtra
Bandhavgarh	Madhya Pradesh
Panna	Madhya Pradesh
Dampha	Mizoram
Bhadra	Karnataka
Pench	Maharashtra
Pakhui-Nameri	Arunachal Pradesh-Asom
Bori, Satpura, Pachmari	Madhya Pradesh
Nagarhole	Karnataka
Katarniaghat	Uttar Pradesh
Nameri	Asom
Kaziranga	Asom

Note :

• Nagarjunasagar Tiger Reserve in AP is the largest, while Pench in Maharashtra is the smallest. Bandipur in Karnataka was the first (1973-74), while Kaziranga is the latest (2006).

Biosphere Reserves in India

• The biosphere reserve program was launched by the UNESCO in 1971 under the aegis of its Man and Biosphere (MAB) Program, to provide a global network of protected areas for conserving natural communities.

• In India, the first biosphere reserve – Nilgiri biosphere reserve – came into being in 1986. So far, 14 biosphere reserves have been set up in the country.

Nilgiri (Western Ghats)	Similipal (Orissa)
Nanda Devi (Uttarakhand)	Dibru-Daikhowa (Asom)
Nokrek (Meghalaya)	Dehong Dabang (Arunachal Pradesh)
Manas (Asom)	Panchmarhi (MP)
Sunderbans (West Bengal)	Kanchanjunga (Sikkim)
Gulf of Mannar (Tamil Nadu)	Agastyamalai (Kerala)
Great Nicobar (Andaman and Nicobar Islands)	Achaanak maar-Amarkantak (Madhya Pradesh)

Note :

• Out of these 14, Nilgiri, Sunderbans, Manas and Gulf of Mannar have been recognized on World Network of Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO.

YOUNGEST COUNTRIES

South Sudan (July, 2011)
Montenegro (July, 2006)
Serbia (July, 2006)
East Timor (2002)
Palau (1994)
Czech Republic (1993)
Eritrea (1993)
Slovakia (1993)
Bosnia/Hertzegovina (1992)

OLDEST COUNTRIES

San Marino (301 AD)
France (486 AD)
Bulgaria (632 AD)
Denmark (950 AD)
Portugal (1143 AD)
Andorra (1278 AD)
Switzerland (1291 AD)

Most Commonly Spoken Languages

▲	Language	Number of speakers
1.	Chinese (Mandarin)	1,300,000,000
2.	English	508,000,000
3.	Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu)	497,000,000
4.	Spanish	392,000,000
5.	Russian	277,000,000
6.	Arabic	246,000,000
7.	Bengali	211,000,000
8.	Portuguese	191,000,000
9.	Malay-Indonesian	159,000,000
10.	French	129,000,000

World Top Ten Largest Landlocked Countries

Country	SQ (Miles)
Kazakhstan	1,049,156
Mongolia	604,250
Niger	489,075
Chad	486,180
Mali	471,044
Ethiopia	432,212
Bolivia	418,685
Zambia	285,993
Afghanistan	250,001
Cen. Afr. Rep.	240,534

Largest Planets in the Solar System

Rank	Planet	Diameter (km)
1	Jupiter	142,984
2	Saturn	120,536
3	Uranus	51,118
4	Neptune	30,778
5	Earth	12,756
6	Venus	12,103
7	Mars	6,794
8	Mercury	4,880
9	Eres	2,400
10	Pluto	2,320
11	Ceres	975

World Top Ten Largest Cities

Cities	Country	Estimated Population
Tokyo	Japan	35,100,000
New York	USA	21,650,000
Seoul	South Korea	21,350,000
Mexico City	Mexico	20,950,000
Sao Paulo	Brazil	19,900,000
Mumbai	India	18,400,000
Osaka	Japan	18,050,000
Delhi	India	17,500,000
Los Angeles	USA	16,900,000
Jakarta	Indonesia	16,050,000

LARGEST COUNTRIES BY AREA

▲	Country	Area (sq km)
1.	Russia	17,075,200.00
2.	Canada	9,984,670.00
3.	United States	9,826,630.00
4.	China	9,596,960.00
5.	Brazil	8,511,960.00
6.	Australia	7,686,850.00
7.	India	3,287,590.00
8.	Argentina	2,766,890.00
9.	Kazakhstan	2,717,300.00
10.	Sudan	2,505,810.00
11.	Algeria	2,381,740.00
12.	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	2,345,410.00
13.	Saudi Arabia	2,149,690.00
14.	Mexico	1,972,550.00
15.	Indonesia	1,919,440.00
16.	Libya	1,759,540.00
17.	Iran	1,648,000.00
18.	Mongolia	1,564,120.00
19.	Peru	1,285,220.00
20.	Chad	1,284,000.00
21.	Niger	1,267,000.00
22.	Angola	1,246,700.00
23.	Mali	1,240,000.00
24.	South Africa	1,219,910.00
25.	Colombia	1,138,910.00
26.	Ethiopia	1,127,130.00
27.	Bolivia	1,098,580.00
28.	Mauritania	1,030,700.00
29.	Egypt	1,001,450.00
30.	Tanzania	945,087.00
31.	Nigeria	923,768.00
32.	Venezuela	912,050.00
33.	Namibia	825,418.00
34.	Pakistan	803,940.00
35.	Mozambique	801,590.00
36.	Turkey	780,580.00
37.	Chile	756,950.00
38.	Zambia	752,614.00
39.	Burma	678,500.00
40.	Afghanistan	647,500.00
41.	France	643,427.00
42.	Somalia	637,657.00
43.	Central African Republic	622,984.00
44.	Ukraine	603,700.00
45.	Botswana	600,370.00
46.	Madagascar	587,040.00
47.	Kenya	582,650.00
48.	Yemen	527,970.00
49.	Thailand	514,000.00
50.	Spain	504,782.00
51.	Turkmenistan	488,100.00
52.	Cameroon	475,440.00
53.	Papua New Guinea	462,840.00
54.	Sweden	449,964.00
55.	Uzbekistan	447,400.00
56.	Morocco	446,550.00
57.	Iraq	437,072.00
58.	Paraguay	406,750.00
59.	Zimbabwe	390,580.00
60.	Japan	377,835.00
61.	Germany	357,021.00
62.	Congo, Republic of the	342,000.00
63.	Finland	338,145.00
64.	Malaysia	329,750.00
65.	Vietnam	329,560.00
66.	Norway	323,802.00
67.	Cote d'Ivoire	322,460.00
68.	Poland	312,679.00
69.	Italy	301,230.00
70.	Philippines	300,000.00
71.	Ecuador	283,560.00
72.	Burkina Faso	274,200.00
73.	New Zealand	268,680.00
74.	Gabon	267,667.00
75.	Guinea	245,857.00
76.	United Kingdom	244,820.00
77.	Ghana	239,460.00
78.	Romania	237,500.00
79.	Laos	236,800.00
80.	Uganda	236,040.00
81.	Guyana	214,970.00
82.	Oman	212,460.00
83.	Belarus	207,600.00
84.	Kyrgyzstan	198,500.00
85.	Senegal	196,190.00
86.	Syria	185,180.00
87.	Cambodia	181,040.00
88.	Uruguay	176,220.00
89.	Tunisia	163,610.00
90.	Suriname	163,270.00
91.	Nepal	147,181.00
92.	Bangladesh	144,000.00
93.	Tajikistan	143,100.00
94.	Greece	131,940.00
95.	Nicaragua	129,494.00
96.	Eritrea	121,320.00
97.	Korea, North	120,540.00
98.	Malawi	118,480.00
99.	Benin	112,620.00
100.	Honduras	112,090.00
101.	Liberia	111,370.00
102.	Bulgaria	110,910.00
103.	Cuba	110,860.00
104.	Guatemala	108,890.00
105.	Iceland	103,000.00
106.	Korea, South	98,480.00
107.	Hungary	93,030.00
108.	Portugal	92,391.00
109.	Jordan	92,300.00
110.	Azerbaijan	86,600.00
111.	Austria	83,870.00
112.	United Arab Emirates	83,600.00
113.	Czech Republic	78,866.00
114.	Panama	78,200.00
115.	Serbia	77,474.00
116.	Sierra Leone	71,740.00
117.	Ireland	70,280.00
118.	Georgia	69,700.00
119.	Sri Lanka	65,610.00
120.	Lithuania	65,300.00
121.	Latvia	64,589.00
122.	Togo	56,785.00
123.	Croatia	56,542.00
124.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,209.20
125.	Costa Rica	51,100.00
126.	Slovakia	48,845.00
127.	Dominican Republic	48,730.00
128.	Bhutan	47,000.00
129.	Estonia	45,226.00
130.	Denmark	43,094.00
131.	Netherlands	41,526.00
132.	Switzerland	41,290.00
133.	Guinea-Bissau	36,120.00
134.	Moldova	33,843.00
135.	Belgium	30,528.00
136.	Lesotho	30,355.00
137.	Armenia	29,743.00
138.	Albania	28,748.00
139.	Solomon Islands	28,450.00
140.	Equatorial Guinea	28,051.00
141.	Burundi	27,830.00
142.	Haiti	27,750.00
143.	Rwanda	26,338.00
144.	Macedonia	25,333.00
145.	Djibouti	23,000.00
146.	Belize	22,966.00
147.	El Salvador	21,040.00
148.	Israel	20,770.00
149.	Slovenia	20,273.00
150.	Fiji	18,270.00
151.	Kuwait	17,820.00
152.	Swaziland	17,363.00
153.	Timor-Leste	15,007.00
154.	Montenegro	14,026.00
155.	Bahamas, The	13,940.00
156.	Vanuatu	12,200.00
157.	Qatar	11,437.00
158.	Gambia, The	11,300.00
159.	Jamaica	10,991.00
160.	Kosovo	10,887.00
161.	Lebanon	10,400.00
162.	Cyprus	9,250.00
163.	Brunei	5,770.00
164.	Trinidad and Tobago	5,128.00
165.	Cape Verde	4,033.00
166.	Samoa	2,944.00
167.	Luxembourg	2,586.00
168.	Comoros	2,170.00
169.	Mauritius	2,040.00
170.	Sao Tome and Principe	1,001.00
171.	Kiribati	811.00
172.	Dominica	754.00
173.	Tonga	748.00
174.	Micronesia, Federated States of	702.00
175.	Singapore	692.70
176.	Bahrain	665.00
177.	Saint Lucia	616.00
178.	Andorra	468.00
179.	Palau	458.00
180.	Seychelles	455.00
181.	Antigua and Barbuda	442.60
182.	Barbados	431.00
183.	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	389.00
184.	Grenada	344.00
185.	Malta	316.00
186.	Maldives	300.00
187.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	261.00
188.	Marshall Islands	181.30
189.	Liechtenstein	160.00
190.	San Marino	61.20
191.	Tuvalu	26.00
192.	Nauru	21.00
193.	Monaco	1.95
194.	Holy See (Vatican City)	0.44