Iran Refines Subsidy Mechanism to Enhance Accuracy and Fairness in Cash Transfers
In a significant administrative development, Iran’s Subsidy Targeting Organization has announced a comprehensive amendment to the executive bylaw governing its cash subsidy program. This revision, issued to all relevant executive bodies, is immediately effective and aims to standardize and enhance the integrity of the nation’s social welfare system.
A Move Towards Greater Precision
The newly amended directive is designed to bring several key improvements. Its primary objectives are to standardize the process for separating family members from the head of the household, ensure consistency of identity information across government databases—particularly with the National Organization for Civil Registration—and increase the overall accuracy in family unit identification.
Furthermore, the revisions are intended to prevent the submission of fraudulent requests and to improve the system for distributing cash and livelihood subsidies, ensuring that support reaches its intended recipients efficiently.
Streamlined Procedures and Judicial Oversight
A central feature of the new amendment concerns the procedure for individuals over 18 seeking to be recognized as a separate household from their family head due to incompatibility. The directive now mandates that such a separation can only be processed upon the presentation of a valid ruling from judicial authorities.
Without a definitive court order that has been officially registered within the National Organization for Civil Registration’s system (ncr.ir), no action will be taken to create or modify a household registration. This step introduces a layer of judicial oversight to ensure the legitimacy of such requests.
The Path to Eligibility Assessment
Once a new household is formed or an existing one is modified based on the above criteria, and after the judicial information is cross-referenced with the civil registration database, the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare will proceed with the next critical step: economic classification.
This “decile-banding” process involves assessing the economic standing of the household to determine its eligibility bracket for subsidy payments, aligning government assistance with the actual needs of the population.