National Parks In India

 What is National Park ?

National parks are areas that aim to protect the natural environment. They are also involved in public recreation and enjoyment activities. In a national park, the landscapes and its flora and fauna are present in their natural state.

India is rich in biodiversity. It comprises about 7.6% mammals, 6.2% reptiles, 12.6% birds, and 6.0% flowering plant species under the Indomalayan ecozone. Many eco-regions of our country like Shola forests exhibit high rates of endemism. The forests cover over the ranges from the tropical rainforest, the Western Ghats, and Northeast India to the coniferous forests in the Himalayan region.

The significant terrestrial ecosystem coming along the Indomalayan ecozone consists of temperate, polar, wet, dry regions for different kind of species to live. The species include elephant, tiger, cobra, crocodile, apes, sambar deer, spotted deer, rhinoceros, goats, lions along with different types of flora and faunas.

Indian wildlife has around 99 world-recognized national parks in different parts of the country. All these national parks and the wildlife reserves have been recognized by the IUCN or the International Union for the Conservation of Nature under the second category of protected areas.

Some National Parks In India :

1. Great Himalayan National Park
2. Nanda Devi National Park
3. Jim Corbet National Park
4. Kaziranga National Park 
5. Gir National Park

Great Himalayan National Park :

The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), is one of India's national parks, is located in Kullu region in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The park was established in 1984 and is spread over an area of 1171 km² at an altitude of between 1500 and 6000 m. The Great Himalayan National Park is a habitat to numerous flora and more than 375 fauna species, including approximately 31 mammals, 181 birds, 3 reptiles, 9 amphibians, 11 annelids, 17 mollusks and 127 insects. They are protected under the strict guidelines of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972; hence any sort of hunting is not permitted.

In June 2014, the Great Himalayan National Park was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The Unesco World Heritage Site Committee granted the status to the park under the criteria of "outstanding significance for biodiversity conservation".

Nanda Devi National Park :

Valley of Flowers National Park is an Indian national park, located in North Chamoli and Pithoragarh, in the state of Uttarakhand and is known for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and the variety of flora. This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, musk deer, brown bear, red fox and blue sheep. Birds found in the park include Himalayan monal pheasant and other high altitude birds.

The place was little known to the outside world due to its inaccessibility. In 1931, Frank S. Smythe, Eric Shipton and R. L. Holdsworth, all British mountaineers, lost their way while returning from a successful expedition to Mt.Kamet and happened upon the valley, which was full of flowers. They were attracted to the beauty of the area and named it the "Valley of Flowers." Frank Smythe later authored a book of the same name.

Jim Corbet National Park :

Some areas of the park were formerly part of the princely state of Tehri Garhwal. The forests were cleared by the Environment and Forests Department (Uttarakhand) to make the area less vulnerable to Rohilla invaders. The Raja of Tehri formally ceded a part of his princely state to the East India Company in return for their assistance in ousting the Gurkhas from his domain. The Buksas—a tribe from the Terai—settled on the land and began growing crops, but in the early 1860s they were evicted with the advent of British rule.

Jim Corbett National Park is the oldest national park in India and was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal tiger. It is located in Nainital district and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand and was named after hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett. The park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.

Kaziranga National Park :

Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. The sanctuary, which hosts two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses, is a World Heritage Site. According to the census held in March 2018 which was jointly conducted by the Forest Department of the Government of Assam and some recognized wildlife NGOs, the rhino population in Kaziranga National Park is 2,413. It comprises 1,641 adult rhinos (642 males, 793 females, 206 unsexed); 387 sub-adults (116 males, 149 females, 122 unsexed); and 385 calves. In 2015, the rhino population stood at 2401. Kaziranga is home to the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world, and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006 (now the highest tiger density is in Orang National Park, Assam). The park is home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer. Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for conservation of avifaunal species. When compared with other protected areas in India, Kaziranga has achieved notable success in wildlife conservation. Located on the edge of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, the park combines high species diversity and visibility. Kaziranga is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshland, and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, criss-crossed by four major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, and the park includes numerous small bodies of water. Kaziranga has been the theme of several books, songs, and documentaries. The park celebrated its centennial in 2005 after its establishment in 1905 as a reserve forest.

Gir National Park :

The Asiatic Lion used to be widespread throughout the Indian subcontinent before excessive hunting by British colonials and India rulers decimated their population.

By the1800s only a dozen Asiatic lions remained in India, all of which were concentrated in the Gir forest. This was brought to the Nawab of Junagarh’s attention by the British authorities. Since Gir fell within the range of the Nawab’s hunting grounds he was in a better position to establish a sanctuary for the remaining lions which he did. Following the annexation of Junagadh in 1948 and the Nawab’s family fleeing to Pakistan as a result, the sanctuary was taken over by the Government of India who continued the task of protecting the lions of Gir.

Today the Gir National Park is the only sanctuary where Asiatic lions are found. As a result of efforts by the government forest department and wildlife activists, the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary is a thriving ecosystem with a diverse flora and fauna. It is now considered an essential part of Gujarat’s ecology.