Project Tiger was launched in 1973 with a mandate to conserve tigers in a holistic manner. These are fulfilled by facilitating focused, concerted management of ectopically reserves in various States, constituted on a core-buffer strategy through funding the technical support including site-specific inputs to elicit local community support for conservation. The Project has been successfully implemented and at present there are 28 Tiger Reserves in 17 States, covering an area of 37,761 sq. km. The Tiger Reserves are monitored by a panel of experts using 45 criteria on the format of World Commission of Protected Areas and reviewed by the IUCN.