Core and buffer: how India's tiger reserves are measured under Project Tiger

Background

The National Tiger Conservation Authority publishes a list of all the tiger reserves declared in India, giving for each one its protected-area notification year, the State it lies in, its tiger-reserve notification year, its core area, its buffer area and its total area.
Every reserve is therefore measured in two parts: an inner core area and an outer buffer area, and the two together make up the reserve's total area.
The list runs to 58 tiger reserves.
Their core areas come to 46701.29 sq km, their buffer areas to 37786.54 sq km and the reserves together to 84487.83 sq km.
Nagarjunsagar Sagar in Andhra Pradesh is the largest of them, with a core area of 2,595.72 sq km and a total area of 3,296.31 sq km.
Kerala has two reserves on the list, Periyar and Parambikulam; Periyar has a core of 881.00 sq km against a buffer of only 44.00 sq km, for a total of 925.00 sq km.
Nine reserves carry the earliest protected-area notification year of 1973-74: Bandipur, Corbett, Kanha, Manas, Melghat, Palamau, Ranthambore, Simlipal and Sunderban.
Under section 38 v (3) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 the State Government must prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan, including a staff development and deployment plan, for the proper management of each such area.