Livelihood Basket Is No Place for Trial and Error

Social capital and public trust—contrary to abstract interpretations—are eroding precisely within this pattern of zigzag policymaking. At one point, it was promised that after the currency reform, the Kalabarg (electronic goods voucher) would be adjusted to keep pace with inflation fluctuations; at another, whispers of narrowing the eligibility pool were heard; and now the entire burden of support policy has been shifted onto a hurried, filtering window for raising the Kalabarg amount.

The sudden conditioning of Kalaberg's credit increase to the self-declaration of 18 million heads of households, beyond a declaration error or media inconsistency, was a policy shock whose splinters continue in the form of confusion in public opinion.

From the very first hours, the signs of a hurried plan without solid executive attachments were revealed: the sudden announcement of the news by the information base of the Program and Budget Organization (instead of the specialized and custodian body, i.e. the Ministry of Welfare or the spokesperson of the government), the disruption of the systems at work, and subjecting the process to a vague text message chain that leaves millions of households in suspense, "Will the text message be sent?" and "How long to wait?" has left

Beyond this technical confusion, a fundamental question is raised from the perspective of welfare economics: in a situation where the country has spent more than a decade to develop the "National Iranian Welfare Database" so that the data expansion and intersection test can be done systematically and without human intervention, putting the burden of proving entitlement on the shoulders of the people and reviving the erroneous method of forced self-declaration, exactly where does it fit in the justice distribution algorithm?

The uncertainty deepened when the government spokesperson spoke about the finality of the decisions and the conditionality of financial resources; A bitter admission that before the provision of Rials for this commitment, a wave of expectations has been created in the society.

Finally, the story culminated with the official announcement of the social commission of the parliament to "legal deviations of the plan"; The statements that showed that these interactions are taking place in a context of ignoring legal considerations and with the aim of changing the rail of increasing merchandise towards cash payments and shrinking the scope of coverage.

In the meantime, the fundamental question of the pastors is: in a situation where a project is faced with this amount of legal ambiguity, lack of resources and lack of infrastructure, why should it start with such an unrealistic deadline? Imposing a short time window is not only incompatible with the alphabet of executive planning, but also distorts the dignity of citizens; As it was clear to the experts from the beginning, this deadline is impossible and will be extended.

The inevitable outcome of such an accelerated process is the deepening of chaos in the support geometry of the country; A heterogeneous mixture of cash subsidy, basic goods and increased goods that makes the welfare policy fragmented, the redistribution goals uncertain, and the bureaucracy more confused than before.

From a larger perspective, social capital and public trust - contrary to abstract interpretations - are eroded precisely in the context of these zigzag behaviors. One day, it was promised that after currency surgery, Kalaberg will be restored according to inflation fluctuations; Another day there were whispers of reduced scope, and now the entire burden of supporting the policy of expanding the portfolio has been shifted to a filtering and accelerated window.

The fact is that the imposition of such limited time limits for self-expression has a direct proportion to the hardening of the circle of recipients and a completely inverse proportion to "real objectivity"; A path that, in the absence of information and transparency, can actually end up unintentionally eliminating some of the most deprived sections of society; The same groups that do not have easy access to communication tools and have always been the first victims of incomplete bureaucracies.

In recent years, the blade of economic surgery, including subsidies and energy, has had the most contact with the thinnest layers of people's livelihood. It should be known that the livelihood table is not a place of trial and error and returning to the approved tasks, preserving the human dignity of the households and relying on the registered data is the only way to overcome these self-made difficulties.