Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021.
The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a political party active in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after he left the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The headquarters of the party is called Thayagam, which is located at Rukmini Lakshmipathi Salai, Egmore, Chennai.
Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the first openly gay politician in Sri Lanka. He served as Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2019, and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for two terms from 2005 to 2007 and 2015 to 2017. He created a stir in Sri Lankan politics when he was sacked as a minister by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2007, after which he split from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to form his own wing, which later merged with the United National Party in 2010.
Lobsang Tenzin, better known by the titles Professor Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche and to Tibetans as the 5th Samdhong Rinpoche, is a Tibetan Buddhist monk and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India.
The most important places in Buddhism are located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of southern Nepal and northern India. This is the area where Gautama Buddha was born, lived, and taught, and the main sites connected to his life are now important places of pilgrimage for both Buddhists and Hindus. Many countries that are or were predominantly Buddhist have shrines and places which can be visited as a pilgrimage.
In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.
The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, formerly called Central University for Tibetan Studies (CUTS), is a Deemed University founded in Sarnath, Varanasi, India, in 1967, as an autonomous organisation under Union Ministry of Culture. The CIHTS was founded by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in consultation with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, with the aim of educating Tibetan youths in exile and Himalayan border students as well as with the aim of retranslating lost Indo-Buddhist Sanskrit texts that now existed only in Tibetan, into Sanskrit, to Hindi, and other modern Indian languages.
Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer, who served as the eighth president of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022. He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Lumbini Buddhist University is a tertiary educational institution in Lumbini, Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha. The idea for the university was conceived at the First World Buddhist Summit held in Lumbini in 1998, and it was officially formed on 17 June 2004. The Lumbini Buddhist University Act promulgated on 10 November 2006 confirmed its legal status as well as setting out that the university would receive financial assistance from the government of Nepal.
Basil Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list.
Gautam Buddha University ("GBU") is a university established by the Uttar Pradesh Gautam Buddha University Act 2002 and came into existence in 2008. It is approved by University Grants Commission (UGC) under section 12-B and accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with B+ grade. It is located in Greater Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is one of Uttar Pradesh's state government universities which commenced its first academic session in the year 2008. The university campus is spread over 511 acres (207 ha) and offers Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in engineering, Business Administration, Computer Applications, Biotechnology and Buddhist Studies and is mainly focused on research. There was role of Mayawati Ji behind this.
Deepak Tiwari is an Indian journalist, serving as the Hindi editor of Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) and former Vice Chancellor of Makhanalal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism MCU, Bhopal. He was founder managing editor of JoshHosh Media, Bhopal.
The prime minister of Sri Lanka, officially the prime minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, who is the constitutional chief executive. The Cabinet is collectively held accountable to parliament for their policies and actions. The powers and functions of the Prime Minister has changed several times since the creation of the office in 1947.
Kushinagar International Airport is an international airport serving Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. In August 2021, the airport was licensed to operate as a customs notified airport, facilitating the movement of international passengers and Buddhist pilgrims.
The Rajapaksa family is a Sri Lankan family that is prominent in politics. It was one of Sri Lanka's most powerful families during Mahinda Rajapaksa's presidency, when many members of the family occupied senior positions in the Sri Lankan state. They have been particularly prominent in Sri Lankan national politics since 2005 when Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected president.
Sanchi Town is a Nagar panchayat, near Raisen town in Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, it is located 46 km (29 mi) north east of Bhopal, and 10 km (6.2 mi) from Besnagar or Vidisha in the central part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. Known for its "Sanchi Stupas", it is the location of several Buddhist monuments dating from the 3rd century BC to the 12th CE and is one of the important places of Buddhist pilgrimage.
The Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, formerly known as the School of Buddhist Philosophy, located in Leh town of Ladakh is a deemed university under Ministry of Culture. It was founded in 1959 and formerly affiliated to the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi.
The Sri Lanka People's Front, commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a political party in Sri Lanka. It was the ruling party in Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022 and was the largest party in parliament from 2020 to 2024. Previously a minor political party known as the Sri Lanka National Front (SLNF) and Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front (OSLFF), it was relaunched in 2016 as the SLPP and the party became the base for members of the United People's Freedom Alliance loyal to its former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Rajapaksa family.
Sampath Amaratunge is the chairman of the University Grants Commission, Sri Lanka. He was appointed by the president on 2 January 2020, and assumed the role the following day. Amaratunge was previously the vice-chancellor at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, and the chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Directors (CVCD). He was elected as a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities United Kingdom as a member representing constituency II.
The 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis was a political crisis in Sri Lanka due to the power struggle between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the people of Sri Lanka. It was fueled by the anti-government protests and demonstrations by the public due to the economic crisis in the country. The anti-government sentiment across various parts of Sri Lanka has triggered significant political instability in the nation.
