Dear readers,

Like the previous years we are celebrating our 30th Anniversary with yet another colourful, well-illustrated 184 - page special supplement in five segments. The first, which appears today, is titled: "From challenged beginnings to standing tall"; SEGMENT 2: "Going Digital" will appear on February 13; SEGMENT 3: "Agents of change" on February 15; SEGMENT 4: "Golden jubilee beginnings" on February 17, and SEGMENT 5:"Aspirations for the next 50 years" on February 19.

The Daily Star's 30th Anniversary also coincides with Bangladesh's 50 years of independence and the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to pay homage to the great statesman, under whose leadership, our people gained their independence.

Our selection of the themes has been inspired by Bangladesh's achievements in the last 50 years since independence and our aspirations as a nation as we move forward. The rubric of creating a sustainable and prosperous Bangladesh includes a wide range of issues, which, the constraint of time does not allow to cover. We have thus done our best to select those issues under the theme that need comparatively more focus than the rest.

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 rich, 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.

Mahfuz Anam

Editor & Publisher