Prothom Alo celebrates 13th birthday

Performers sing at the cultural programme on the occasion of the 13th anniversary of Prothom Alo at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday.Photo: STAR

Prothom Alo, the country's leading Bangla daily, yesterday celebrated its 13th founding anniversary through renewing its pledge to continue working as a catalyst for social change.
The capital's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre pulsated with life all day as eminent citizens, show business and art luminaries and readers from all walks of life gathered there to rejoice with the employees of the newspaper.
A slew of interesting programmes were arranged to mark the occasion. They included a special exhibition with the daily's significant news items titled “The news that brought about changes”. There was also a display of photos of special events and cartoons by Shishir Bhattacharya.
Prothom Alo Jobs offered scope for online registration for jobseekers, while astrologer Kawser Ahmed Chowdhury read palms.
A corner was allocated for beauticians to apply henna to the beauty conscious. Additionally, designers instructed people on how to use natural colours on cloth and adorn earthen utensils with various motifs.
The visitors had opportunities of collecting autographs from celebrities and have their photos taken with them.
Rasheda K Chowdhury, former adviser to caretaker government, and artist Rafiqun Nabi inaugurated the exhibition at 10:00am.
“The newspaper has been with everything good since its inception. I am sure it will keep journeying ahead and take us to a better future,” said Rasheda K Chowdhury.
Later, a conference of around 850 Prothom Alo employees was held. There the daily launched a new campaign based on the slogan, “Living with the head held high, unlike the ostrich burying the head in the sand”.
Explaining the slogan, Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman said, “We don't want to ignore the wrongs around us; we want to keep protesting and addressing them.”
Latifur Rahman, chairman of Prothom Alo's publishing company Media Star Ltd, asked all to work more closely with the people, instead of being complacent. “We must not only keep dreaming. We have to make our dreams come true,” he said.