Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kushinagar international airport in the presence of representatives from 12 countries.
The airport in eastern UP, the third international airport in the state, will mainly service the Buddhist tourism circuit.
The Sri Lankan Airlines flight carrying monks and dignitaries was the first to land at the airport.
PILGRIMAGE CENTRE, VERY FEW BUDDHISTS:
In 2011 Census, of Kushinagar district's 35.64 lakh population, only 4,619 (0.12%) were Buddhist.
AMONG THE POOREST IN UP:
Per capita District Domestic Product
(DDP) in Kushinagar was 27,229.23 in 2019-20 (constant prices), far less than UP's per capita GSDP (44,618.26) and India's per capita GDP (94,566). In per capita DDP, Kushinagar was 61st out of UP's 75 districts.
Kushinagar has a negligible population of Buddhists. Kushinagar is an international Buddhist pilgrimage centre.
Today’s Kushinagar is identified with Kushinara, capital of the ancient Malla republic, which was one of the 16 mahajanapadas of the 6th-4th centuries BC.
Kushinagar is among the very few places in India where The Buddha is depicted in reclining form.
The area went on to be part of the kingdoms of the Mauryas, Shungas, Kushanas, Guptas, Harshavardhana, and the Palas. Kushinara is believed to have been inhabited until at least the 12th century.
The first excavations in Kushinagar were carried out by Alexander Cunningham and ACL Carlleyle, who unearthed the main stupa and the 6-metre-long statue of the Reclining Buddha in 1876.
The Buddhist population of the district was just 4,619, or 0.12 per cent of the total.
Ten other districts of UP — Kheri, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Sultanpur, Basti, Mainpuri, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, Hardoi, and Azamgarh — have larger Buddhist populations than Kushinagar.
Kheri, which has been in the news for the deaths of eight people including four protesting farmers on October 3, had the largest Buddhist population (18,454) across all districts of UP in 2011.
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