A Troublesome 'Self-Declaration' for the 500,000-Toman Kalabarg Coupon

The news of a Kalabarg increase could have been good news. But the most important requirement for implementing such a plan is that, through transparent public information, firm decision-making, and full resolution of technical glitches, a support policy not be allowed to deepen public confusion and dissatisfaction rather than ease part of people's livelihood concerns. Events of the past day or two have caused more public dissatisfaction with how the information was announced than joy over the increase in the Kalabarg amount...

The news of an increase in inventory could be a good news. But the most important task for the implementation of such a plan is to not allow a supportive policy to increase the level of confusion and dissatisfaction of the people, instead of calming a part of people's livelihood concerns, by providing clear information, fixing the decision and completely eliminating technical disturbances. The events that happened in the last one or two days in this field caused people's dissatisfaction with the way of contradictory information rather than the happiness of increasing the number of Kalaberg.

Sefir Arjan - Social Group: With the whisper of the increase in the number of Kalaberg, visible hope, although small and insignificant, was formed in the hearts of the citizens, especially the lower classes. This good news was supposed to reduce the pressure on people's tables and the increase of 500,000 tomans in the credit of Kalaberg for millions of families caught in livelihood bottlenecks. But in practice, during the past two days, some people faced not a clear path to receive this help, but a disturbed system, conflicting messages and unanswered questions: Should we register or not? If we don't register, will we lose the increased amount or not? Will the application deadline expire or be extended? Will this increase be paid for October or should we wait for the next month?

The story started when the Program and Budget Organization announced that about 40 million people, equivalent to 18,300,000 households, must complete the self-declaration form in the national window of smart government services in order to increase the validity of Kalaberg. The deadline was set until 24:00 on Tuesday, October 21.

It was natural for people to flock to record information. When several hundreds of thousands of Tomans are at stake to purchase basic goods, the widespread appeal of citizens is neither a strange occurrence nor a sign of extravagance. By the way, this widespread acceptance has a clear message: this 500,000 Tomans is a real and effective money in everyday life for a large part of the society.

In such a situation, it was expected that before opening the system, its technical capacity would be tested and prepared according to the target population and the volume of possible referrals. But the reports published from the very first hours told about the error in entering the system, the difficulty of accessing the self-declaration section, and even the failure of some citizens' visits to internet cafes. Officials also announced the cause of the disruption as network problems and said that its solution is being pursued.

This part of the story may seem like a common technical problem; But for a citizen who has tried to enter the system several times since morning, received SMS, prepared the national code and household information, and finally encountered a page where it is not possible to register an application, the issue is no longer just a "network problem". For him, it means wasting time, worry and fear of losing the amount promised by the government. The issue was not just disruption; Ambiguity was also added

The problem became more serious when various narratives about the necessity of registration were published. At first, the official emphasis was that the credit increase for about 40 million people will be done after completing the self-declaration form and registering the application. A specific deadline was even set for this work. At the same time, the head of the Subsidy Targeting Organization announced that if the number of people who failed to register information for any reason exceeds a certain limit, it is possible to extend the deadline for self-declaration, and no one is going to be removed from the plan simply because of the time limit.

But later, following the continued disruption of the system, another important news was published: 40 million people who have been identified for this plan, will receive an increase of 500,000 tomans in October without the need to register, and the self-declaration process will continue for the following months. This change of decision was good news for people in one way; Because it reduced the worry of those who had not been able to enter the system. But in another way, it showed how much the initial information could have been more accurate and measured.

A citizen who hears from the beginning, "If you want to get a credit increase, you must self-declare", it is natural to try to register information. When the same citizen hears "there is no need to register for Mehrmah" after hours of effort and suffering, he feels that his time and energy have been wasted. If it is announced again tomorrow that he has to register, this confusion will increase. In support policies, the stability of information is a part of the policy itself. It is not possible to put the implementation of a plan on the shoulders of people every time and then change the instructions every time there is a problem in the implementation.

Perhaps the most important point of this story is something that has been less seen among the news related to the disruption of the system: the volume of people referring to this system is also a social and economic indicator. When millions of people enter the system to receive a credit increase of a few hundred thousand tomans in a short period of time, it does not just mean welcoming a support plan; It also gives an image of the purchasing power of households.

For a family whose food, rent, treatment, education and other essential needs consume a large part of their income every month, 500,000 Tomans may not be a big figure in the scale of the public budget, but it can be meaningful in the scale of the daily shopping basket. The fact that the government has considered such an increase for about 40 million people shows how serious the issue of purchasing power and livelihood support has become.

Therefore, the rush of people to receive this credit should not be viewed only as a "rush to get subsidies". This widespread appeal is, above all, the voice of the community's livelihood demand. From this point of view, the government deserves to be appreciated for putting the credit increase of Kalaberg on the agenda and for strengthening the purchasing power of the lower deciles. But for this very reason, the expectation from the executive body for a more accurate and less troublesome implementation of this plan is also increasing.

If the government knows that about 40 million people are going to enter a system to receive livelihood support in a short period of time, it should simulate the possible traffic load before the start of registration, increase the capacity of the system, simplify the application registration process, and most importantly, provide a single and definitive narrative of the conditions, timing and payment method. People should not have to pay for device incompatibility.

This point is especially important for a livelihood plan. Kalaberg's main audience is not necessarily the citizen who deals with government systems and digital services every day. Some of the beneficiaries may be elderly, have limited access to the Internet, lack digital literacy, or have to go to their children, relatives, or internet cafes to register a simple form. When these same people are faced with an unstable system and changing guidelines, a livelihood support can inadvertently become a draining experience.

The issue of goods is not just an increase of 500 thousand tomans. The problem is people's trust in the promise and the process of its implementation. If livelihood support is to continue, people need to know exactly how much will be paid, when, to whom, and how. If registration is not required, it should be said from the beginning. If necessary, the system should be ready before the general call. If the registration deadline can be extended, the citizen should not be afraid of "being left behind" in the system.

The news of an increase in inventory could be a good news. The most important task now is to not allow a support policy to increase the confusion of the people instead of alleviating part of their livelihood concerns by providing clear information, fixing the decision and completely eliminating technical disturbances. In a strained economy, people need one thing more than anything else: to know exactly what to do when the government makes a promise, and to be able to count on that promise.

The temporary disruption of the national window of smart government services, which occurred at the same time as the self-declaration of applicants to receive receipts with the new amount, has been resolved. The Information Technology Organization of Iran has announced that this disruption is caused by network problems and the services of related systems have returned to normal.

The Program and Budget Organization denied the news of postponing the self-declaration and the payment of Kalaberg's credit increase to next month and announced the continuation of the registration process in October.

An increase of 500,000 tomans in the electronic goods list will be deposited in October for 40 million beneficiaries, without the need to register in the My Government system. This decision has been taken due to the system malfunction and the problems of self-declaration registration. According to the officials, the process of registration and verification of information to receive an increase in Kalaberg credit will be done for these groups from November.