Visit Lumbini Year-2012
Lumbini: The Nepal Government made a formal announcement of ‘Visit Lumbini Year-2012’ amidst a special ceremony at Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha on December 1.
Addressing the ceremony the Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said that Lumbini area would be expanded and all the places related to the life of Budhha within the country would be developed. The places include Tilaurakot of Kapilvastu district, Ramgram of Nawalparasi and Devdaha of Rupandehi.
In a bid to make Visit Lumbini Year 2012 (VLY-2012) a success, a 108-member Main Organising Committee, under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, and a 13-member National Secretariat, under the coordination of Minister for Culture Gopal Kiranti, have been formed.
Acharya Karma Sangbo Sherpa, Vice-Chairman of the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) is the assistant coordinator of the Secretariat.Other members of the secretariat include CA member Lucky Sherpa, Secretary at the Ministry of Culture Dinesh Hari Adhikari, President of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Suraj Vaidya, Tikaram Rai, Narendra Ul Hac and Maksud Ali.
Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs Sushil Jung Rana, Siwani Singh Tharu, Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affair Durga Prasad Bhattarai, Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation Dr. Ganesh Raj Joshi and Rajendra Thapa Magar are other members of the secretary.
Indian film stars Sahrukh Khan and Rekha , Ani Choying Dolma, Hollywood Super Star Jacky Chen, Chinese Super Star Zhu, Tony Lang, and speakers of Sri Lanka have been nominated as the goodwill ambassadors of the campaign.
Reuters adds from Beijing – A Chinese-backed foundation and Nepal’s government plan to transform Lord Buddha’s birthplace in southern Nepal into a magnet for Buddhists in the same way as Mecca is to Muslims and the Vatican for Catholics.
The Asia-Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation plans to raise US$3 billion at home and abroad to build temples, an airport, a highway, hotels, convention centers and a Buddhist university in the town of Lumbini, about 171km southwest of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. “Lumbini will transcend religion, ideology and race. We hope to rejuvenate the spirit of Lord Buddha,” said Xiao Wunan, a devout Buddhist who is executive vice president of the foundation.
Xiao hopes Lumbini can bring together all three schools of Buddhism — the Mahayana, or “Greater Vehicle” which is dominant in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan; Tibetan Buddhism; and the Hinayana, or “Lesser Vehicle” which is popular in Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.China’s expanding ties with countries in South Asia has stoked concern in neighbor India, which fears encirclement, but Xiao said there were no political motives behind the push to develop Lumbini.
According to N.K Shrestha ,Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal, China has expressed willingness to expand railway up to Lumbini but the government has stressed that Kathmandu should be linked with railway first.
