It is an important northern state of India, as it not only contributes a major share to the country’s GDP growth, but also serves the country in many ways, as it remains as one of the most attractive tourists’ spots, as it owns, the world famous mausoleum, namely the ‘Taj Mahal’.
It serves as an important productive center and also portrays the historical monuments and remains as a pride of the entire country.
Uttar Pradesh is the largest state, by the size of its population and also the second largest state in contributing high percentage to the country’s GDP growth. It contributes around 8.17% to the country GDP, as per the survey reports in the year of 2004 to 2009. This is possible for Uttar Pradesh, as it doesn’t focus on one productive activity, i.e. it signifies on the diversification of various productive activities, such as agriculture, small scale industry sectors, and IT industry growth, development of various manufacturing sectors, such as metal production, ornament manufacturing, domestic manufacturing units, and many more. The major economic activity in the state is agriculture, which corresponds to 46% of state income and the state is also known for its surplus food condition, thereby eradicating drought, and poverty. In this way, Uttar Pradesh reserves a significant position in the country. The state is also known for its significant growth in the small scale industrial sectors and is successfully accounting to the country’s GDP through various unique activities that are very specific to many of its significant cities, such as, Kanpur, Noida, Agra, Meerut, Lucknow, etc… Especially the cities, like Kanpur and Lucknow accounts to a GDP of around $20 billion, followed by Noida, which is consistently flourishing, via the growth of information technology industries and their support centers.
When it comes to tourism, Agra would be listed in the state without any further doubts, as the world wonder, ‘Taj Mahal’ is located in Agra. The ‘Taj Mahal’ was visited by 8 million domestic tourists and 825, 000 foreign tourists in the year 2006. The city of Agra also bears other heritage centers, which is flourishing as a tourist centers till date, such as, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, besides Taj Mahal. The Fatehpur Sikri serves as a historical monument, reminding the reigns of the great king, the Akbar. Uttar Pradesh is also popular for its pilgrimage tourists from in and around the country and also attracts tourists all around the world. Thus, the cities of Uttar Pradesh namely, the Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mathura, Vrindavan, and Allahabad are serving as the pilgrimage destinations and these cities are visited by numerous tourists, every year. Visiting Varanasi, which is situated near the banks of the river Ganges is considered to be the holy pilgrimage travel by most of the Hindus in the country. Further, Lucknow is popular for historical monuments and the town near Varanasi namely, the Sarnath is quite popular for its archeological artifacts, which are in turn considered as the national significance, such as the ‘Pillars of Ashoka’ and the ‘Lion Capital of Ashoka’.
The festivals, such as Holy, Dashehra, Diwali, Durga Pooja, Rama Navami, Krishna Jeyanti, etc… are celebrated in most parts of the states. Mostly the Hindu festivals are celebrated with greater significance, as cities such as, Ayodhya serves as birth place of Lord Rama and Mathura serves as birth place of Lord Krishna, etc… Further, Muslim festivals are also celebrated with importance, as Agra is known for the reigns of Muslim Kings and rulers, and hence their festivals, such as, Moharam, Ramzan… are also celebrated with higher significance, followed by the celebrations by Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians.