Our One Rupee Salaried Class
Mrs. Fauzia Viqar

The living style of a person occupying an official position should justify the remuneration attached to such a position. If a person declines to accept the remuneration attached to a particular job, unless it be a religious or social work, means that he regards the amount as measly and treats it with contempt. In such a situation, the message which is being given to others is not very healthy.

 The remuneration attached to a particular position should be worthy of respect. The tendency of not respecting the remuneration of official positions is a culture of our society which emanates from the fact that large tracts of fertile land were gifted to the few towing the line of the British Raj. These sycophants were perched on important positions to perpetuate the colonial rule. After independence these people retained the lands and the wealth and power associated with it. Their generations in turn held important government assignments but looked down on the salary with contempt. As these people were wealthy, powerful and supposedly respect worthy their attitude carried a snob value which was readily absorbed by the character deficient populace of our country. Such a trend encourages others to resort to unfair means to compete with such people flaunting their wealth. The negative psyche that “we do not need this salary” has to be checked. This unhealthy trend has to be reversed. The acceptance of official positions without the attached remuneration proves that the influence these positions wield will be peddled mercilessly in order to compensate for the lack of salary. Such an evident tendency should be strongly discouraged.

 Love for the nation is not a predominant emotion in Pakistan. Nepotism, rampant corruption, looting of state wealth, ........ You do not do this with the things you love! Intolerance of other’s faith, religious sentiments and baradari are the most potent and lethal forces in our country. One sees short spurts of ‘nationalist’ feelings which for that moment seem to break all barriers, but they die no sooner than they had risen. Such feelings were most prominent in the 1965 war, they are there during Indo-Pak cricket matches and were definitely very visible during the nuclear blast period. Hence any suggestion that all these political functionaries are totally working for the love of the country would be in stark contrast to our national experience.

 It is our experience that political functionaries taking Rs. 1 per month as salary have known to harm this country more than anyone else. This charade is not done for love. Social pressures and political image for our gullible populace is the directing force. The vote giving population is duped time and again. How can we digest the fact that when the immediate predecessors of our Rs. 1 per month salaried class were busy looting, literally looting the country with the connivance and active support of the ‘elite’ Central Superior Services, their successors being the current political office bearers and technocrats would sacrifice all for the country. Please! Please! Please!.

 Every person occupying an official position should be bound to accept the salary the said position holds because he by holding this position is doing favour to none other than himself. If the salary is meager then it should be properly adjusted to support the life style the position demands.

 The remuneration of a particular job should always be realistic to enable a person to feed his family honourably. But again every economy has its limitations with regard to salary levels. In a conservative society with a developing economy, the middle class are the hardest hit. Here one man works to provide for the whole family, it being the old parents, ones own wife and children, possible his sisters and brothers. No amount of salary shall be sufficient for such a person to give a decent living to all his dependents.

 The solution to this problem is to reduce dependents by creating more earning hands. This would require that we as a society change our attitude towards women at work in the middle class and make their participation in daily economic activity acceptable and respectable. This change in attitude will double our existing educated work force while keeping the burden on our resources at the same level. With educated women occupied in work from morning to evening, the population growth, will also remain in check. There has to be a silent but fiercely forceful long term government policy of changing the attitude of our society towards women at work.

 Policies should be devised not by the bureaucrats or a few politicians who pass directions at whims. But there should be an intelligent pool of dedicated, well paid, and well read professionals belonging to the motherland who understand the problems and suggest solutions which are for our society and not imported. These policies should have flexibility so that incorrect policies can be corrected midstream. These policies should be monitored by the government to ensure compliance of their broad term parameters. If a concerted, well planned, dedicated and indigenous effort is made, there is no reason why this country cannot march towards prosperity hand in hand with our own women.

 A political office is not a perennially green seat. In any case, democracy is in its infancy in our country. In rules of business, higher the risk, higher should be the prospective return. If overt means of making decent money are closed in the name of austerity then even the most pious may resort to covert means of making money. Our political office bearers should have enough foresight and courage to take their emoluments with dignity and justify in their work each penny that they earn.