Dear readers,

Like the previous years, we are celebrating our 28th anniversary with yet another colourful, well-illustrated 200-page special supplement in five segments. The first, which appears today, is titled: “Strong Institutions for Good Governance”. The second segment, “Entrepreneurship as a Key to Youth Employment”, will appear on February 17; the third, “Avoiding an Urban Nightmare: Time to Get Planning Right”, on February 19; the fourth, “Deshi First”, on February 23; and the final, “The Lifestyle Parenthesis”, on February 24.

Our selection of the themes has been inspired by the need to focus on issues that are deeply related to our development endeavours. The issue of governance, and indeed good governance in particular, is a constant refrain of the policymakers, the practitioners and our development partners. The rubric of governance includes a wide range of issues, which the constraint of time does not allow us to cover. We have thus selected those matters under the theme that need comparatively more focus than the rest.

The second segment is an acknowledgement of the role and importance of our youth in development and the shaping of their formative years, and preparing them to meet the challenges of the impending fourth industrial revolution.

The third segment addresses the problem of urbanisation focusing on the capital's unplanned and unbridled expansion; satellite townships to ease the pressure on the metropolis; the numerous mega projects intended to improve Dhaka city's road and transport infrastructure and the challenges along the way, and much more.

The fourth and fifth segments present a medley of articles covering various facets of our lifestyle, from jazz to chiffon to khadi, Jibanananda and pop culture.

We are happy to say that the contributors, who are experts, practitioners, researchers, eminent economists, scholars and academics, have done a commendable job in presenting us with very perceptive and rich articles.

We have tried to make the contents informative, interesting, objective, constructive and positively directional, with appropriate suggestions and recommendations, which, we are confident, will add value to the existing work on the topics covered in the supplements.

We also take the opportunity of expressing our gratitude to our readers and patrons who have inspired us consistently and have shown keen interest in our continuing progress and lent unstinted support in fulfilling our motto, “Your Right to Know.”