Adjust

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WHEN the price of everything rises we are asked to 'adjust'. The price of foodstuff has gone up; the fares of transports, be it a rickshaw, a CNG or a bus, have also gone up. This hardly touches a particular class of people who nevertheless complain a lot but for most of us, middle to lower income group this is simply torturous. Every month around the 20th to 22nd we have to borrow money, which incidentally have to be paid off as soon we receive our salaries.

This brings us to the question -- why the salaries of the sufferers don't go up? Are those people who own factories and mills and big businesses, be it trade, transport or real estate (or any other category you can think of), not aware that just like them we have to feed ourselves and our dependants, clothe them, educate them, etc.? Can they not raise salaries on humanitarian grounds even if it means a loss in their income? But this is not happening which brings us to the bigger question -- how long can we survive while continuing to adjust?

M. A. Hakim

Mohammadpur, Dhaka.