T HE salaried people belonging to the middle class have to bear the brunt of sky-high commodity prices the most, because they have to prove that their education is the mark of their financial wellbeing. They have to keep up with their appearances as well-to-do educated people.

This happens because success in our society is judged by the financial health of a person. So in ef fort to come across as financially sound and not letting down the educated community, they bear the blows of suf focating inflation without any protest. As a result, today they find themselves having been pushed to the wall like never before.

Illustrating the point, if a shopkeeper or a small-scale businessman not so well educated earns more money than his educated and employed brother, people`s belief in education as a significant f actor f alters, which bodes ill for society as a whole. People start quoting precedents of nouveau riche, smiling under their lips at the struggling salaried person. No doubt, the educated have to burn the midnight oil to make ends meet, but they still toil for material comforts.

The ever burgeoning chasm between the static salaries and sky-high prices puts the salaried people on a slippery slope.

Remaining continuously down in the dumps, they may resort to underhand games to put enough bread on the table.

With time, bribery and corruption define their way of life because society starts treating them as `successful`.

The salaried middle class is now f acing an existential threat, which may well tilt the societal equilibrium and social order.

Their penny-pinching erodes their self-respect, and f amily and society declare them dead wood.

Anthropological studies have confirmed that literati and intelligentsia are mostly from the middle class. Historical, cultural and intellectual revolutions generally have had their roots in this very class. A strong middle class is essential for economic and social growth.

If the salaries are notincreased proportionate to the cost of living, which, mind you, is not merely surviving, parents would soon feel demotivated about getting their children educated and look for professional careers. The entire focus would be on making money somehow; a lot of money. What it would do to the socialfabricisfrightening.

M. Nadeem Nadir Ka sur