Kushinagar International Airport

WHY IN NEWS?

The Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh is the latest entrant in India’s list of international Airports. The airport is expected to provide seamless connectivity to people from South east and East Asian countries for Buddhist Pilgrimage Tourism.

• Kushinagar is the centre of the Buddhist circuit, which consists of pilgrimage sites at Lumbini, Sarnath, Gaya and others.
• Key Points
• Kushinagar Airport and Cultural Diplomacy:
  • The inauguration of Kushinagar International airport is set to be a landmark in the India-Sri Lanka relations.
  • On the occasion of Aiprort’s inauguration, Sri Lanka will present to India photographs of two mural paintings:
    • One Mural Painting shows Arahat Bhikkhu’ Mahinda, son of Emperor Ashoka delivering the message of the Buddha to King Devanampiyatissa of Sri Lanka.
    • The other shows the arrival of ‘Theri Bhikkhuni’ Sanghamitta, the daughter of the Emperor, in Sri Lanka, bearing a sapling of the ‘sacred Bodhi tree’ under which Siddhārtha Gautama is believed to have attained enlightenment.
  • The Buddhist circuit reflects the use of soft power in India’s foreign policy.
  • The emphasis on Buddhist diplomacy, will help counter increasing Chinese influence in Sri Lanka and improve people to people relations (especially in the context of the aftermath of Sri-lankan Civil War).
  • Further, the Buddhist faith, due to its emphasis on peaceful co-existence and its wide pan-Asian presence, lends itself well to soft-power diplomacy.

Spread of Buddhism in Sri Lanka

• Buddhism was first brought to Sri Lanka by a mission sent out from eastern India during the reign of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (c. 273–232 BCE).
• The leader of the mission to Sri Lanka, Mahendra (Mahinda), is described as Ashoka’s son.

About Buddhist Circuit:

• In 2014-15, the Ministry of Tourism launched the Swadesh Darshan scheme with a vision to develop theme-based tourist circuits on the principles of high tourist value.
  • The Ministry has identified Buddhist Circuit as one of the fifteen thematic circuits for development under the scheme.
• The Buddhist circuit is a route that follows in the footsteps of the Buddha from Lumbini in Nepal to Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh in India, where he died.
  • Buddhist pilgrims consider Kushinagar a sacred site where, they believe, Gautama Buddha delivered his last sermon and attained ‘Mahaparinirvana’ or salvation.
• Investing in the Buddhist Circuit is the result of first-time collaboration between the Government of India’s Ministry of Tourism, the State Governments of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the private sector, Buddhist monasteries and sects, and the World Bank Group.