Radwan Mujib Siddiq on Sunday said that newly launched policy magazine WhiteBoard will always give ‘balanced objective and clear messages’ to the policymakers and youths.

Radwan Mujib, editor-in-chief of WhiteBoard, said this while launching the magazine through a webinar.

The grandson of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, reflected on the vision of the magazine, launched by ruling Awami League’s research wing Centre for Research and Information (CRI), which will cover the gamut of policy issues in Bangladesh.

He said WhiteBoard will create space for the brightest minds not just in Bangladesh but for the Bangladeshis making a difference aboard and being capable to guide the country in overcoming the challenges it is dealing with.

Valuing youths as the driving force of this magazine, he said, “We are always open to our primary audience, which is the young generation.”

Syed Mafiz Kamal, co-editor of the magazine, moderated the event while Samia Huq, Department of Economics and Social Science, BRAC University took part in the event.

Reasoning the necessity of this initiative in the editor’s note of the magazine, Radwan said, “Why have we launched this new initiative? Because, Bangladesh is growing rapidly and confronting new challenges, with young people at the helm. Bangladesh is set to be among the world’s top 30 economies by 2030. But there is a lack of data-driven and coherent analysis of what is happening in our country.”

“This is where WhiteBoard steps in. Aimed at students and young professionals, policy-makers, and practitioners, both at home and abroad, WhiteBoard will be the go-to resource for the latest commentary on Bangladesh. We promote evidence-based analysis and incisive debate on topics ranging from the economy to gender-based violence, from tech innovation to youth employment. Nothing is off the table!” he said.

The first issue brings forth Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s policies that outlined the nation’s progress in the post-liberation war-torn country.

Talking about how the policies of Bangabandhu relates to today’s policy landscape of Bangladesh, Radwan said that the country in last 10 years went back to some of its founding principles and one of them is ‘friendship to all and malice to none’, which relates to the country’s good relation with so many economic partners.

As revealed by CRI sources, this issue debunks the myths about Bangabandhu’s administration — created and disseminated following the assassination of Bangabandhu and 16 of his family members in 1975.

The policies and methodologies of Bangabandhu, often lost under the weight of his other charismatic accomplishments such as fiery speeches and pro-liberation leadership, do deserve a chance to be heard by modern policymakers, youths.

All the content developers of this magazine are endowed with a track record of possessing ample knowledge of the vision.

A total of eight contributions were made to the first issue by eminent personalities including renowned economist Rehman Sobhan, humanitarian activist Julian Francis, and journalist Syed Badrul Ahsan, Professor Shams Rahman and political scientist Rounaq Jahan.

The stories came under the titles of ‘Emerging from the village to mark a new country on the map’, ‘Mujib’s economic policies and their relevance today’, ‘Economic development through political stability’, ‘Just like today’s progressive politics’, ‘BaKSAL was social-democratic in nature’, ‘Bangladesh’s Constitution of 1972: an exposition of Mujib’s political philosophy’, ‘How Mujib co-managed one of the largest relief operations in the world’, ‘Friendship towards all was a masterstroke’, and ‘Mujib administration’s policy action timeline’.