Nothing could be more miserable for an aged person than having to constantly struggle with financial worries. No wonder the moral fiber of a society is often judged by how it cares for its old.

The decision of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to raise the pensions for retirees nationwide by 10 percent from January reflects the moral underpinning of State policy. This is one of the ways a society and state repay the debt to the retirees.

Most retirees, those in their 70s or older in particular, belong to the generation that had contributed to the industrial construction in the 1950s or 60s. They make the generation that had suffered the most in the great famine lasting three years from the end of 1950s to the early 1960s. Theirs is also the generation that had experienced the upheaval of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).