A story of deletion.

A spring day has appeared in the month of Ordibehesht. The fast-moving buses of Azadi are even more crowded and bustling than usual, all the way to Tehranpars.

For several days now, the 11-story building of the Ministry of Welfare at the intersection of Behboudi and Azadi streets has become a gathering place for men and women protesting the government’s removal of their subsidies. They are demanding explanations from the officials. Retirees are also protesting the continuous 10% increase in their pensions, chanting “Incompetent Minister, Resign, Resign” behind the gates of the ministry. Law enforcement and security forces are also present in active numbers to prevent these protests from getting out of hand. One officer warns the people that their red line is the first person of the nation, and if anyone speaks against him, they will take action. They themselves continue to insult Abdolmaleki and the president without any worries.

People from different classes have gathered in the ground floor of the Ministry of Welfare, and there is a strange chaos in the courtyard of the ministry. Men, women, old and young are all busy trying to receive their subsidies that have not been given to them. They see this exclusion as unfair and demand that their families also receive the 300 or 400 thousand tomans subsidy that has not been paid. The number of people present at the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare is so high that the employees are forced to hide behind their windows out of curiosity. The employees of the long and wide ministries, which were formed a decade ago by merging three ministries of labor, cooperation and welfare, consume almost a quarter of the public budget and, as Ali Rabiei, the former minister of this department, puts it, are in contact with a large portion of the people from birth to death.

Service tables.

At the entrance of the ministry, there are tents set up and guides direct visitors there. Men and often women are stationed at different tables, known as “service tables,” to answer people’s questions. They enter people’s national ID numbers into a system and explain the reason for removing subsidies; experts who have been told beforehand to silence people and are often unaware of the process themselves, give contradictory answers to visitors.

The Deputy of Human Resources and Welfare Minister is standing among the people and giving a speech. The Deputy of Welfare is standing among the crowd and says, “Listen to me for five minutes. There is a great work and a national plan that everyone believes should be done.” Everyone raises their voices. A man from the crowd calls for others to be quiet. The Deputy continues, “Let me; let me; I am here to convince you. We must take the rights of the poor from the wealthy.” A woman screams, “We are tired of hearing these lies. Forty years…” The commotion rises and no other voices can be heard.

Multiple references.

No one knows yet who the main authority for removing subsidies is and where to take their complaint. A middle-aged woman with a black chador and wrinkles on her face is complaining next to one of the charity tables, saying that she has gone to the police, then to the district office, then to the subsidy organization, and finally to the ministry. She says her cousin’s son receives subsidies for two apartments and two cars, but she has had her subsidies removed and asks, “Is this justice?”

Although they may differ in clothing and appearance, they all use the same phrase: Why does so-and-so receive subsidies for their house and car, but my subsidy has been removed? Even the employees at the service desk do not know the criteria for identifying wealthy, middle-class, and poor individuals for the allocation of subsidies and they respond to the people with a lack of knowledge. The same response is repeated: “It will be deposited into your account in a few days”; a response that seems to only be given to appease the people.

Confusion of friends.

Ministry of Welfare experts tell some of the applicants to call 6369; the phone number that should respond to the status of citizens’ subsidies, but the high number of calls causes people to wait for a response at least as long as a hundred people who have called before them. Each person must wait for more than half an hour to be able to speak to the operator. Operators also have no more response for those who have not received a text message: “Check the targeted website with your national code and account number. It will be clear in a few days why you have not been eligible for the new subsidy.”

One of the protesters against the subsidy says that in response, they have been told that the new subsidy payments are based on alphabetical order, but their neighbors whose last names start with “Y” and “M” received the text message for the subsidy deposit last night, and there is still no news of their subsidy, whose last name starts with “A”.

The tenth of Dey is shameful.

Almost all visitors believe that they do not belong in the ninth or tenth district and this categorization is wrong. One of the young women standing by the entrance says, “Take me out of the tenth district, I am not in the tenth district. The minister, the lawyer, and the president are in the tenth district, not me! Those who ride in a Benz, BMW, or a fancy car are in the tenth district, not me! Uncle Ali is in the tenth district, not me! “The tenth district” is a heavy number that puts people in a class; a luxurious and painful class; a class that is responsible for the problems of the rest of society.

A woman with a relatively better appearance than others turns to one of the experts and says, “I myself have an old Peugeot 405 and my son has a broken Pride. How did you calculate that we are in the tenth decade?” The expert replies with a sarcastic tone, “Honestly, I didn’t calculate. Believe me, I don’t even receive subsidies myself. Give me your national ID, I’ll follow up for you.”

One for all.

On the walls, there are papers that catch the eye, inviting everyone to peace and promising that if their request is accepted, they will also receive the subsidy of this period.

Dear fellow citizen!

Given that your family is not eligible for the recent financial assistance, if you wish to request a reassessment of your household’s financial and economic conditions, you can do so within three months through the system.

https://hemayat.mcls.gov.ir translates to “https://hemayat.mcls.gov.ir”

Please visit. If your request is approved, your family will also receive the current period subsidy.

According to the Deputy Minister of Welfare, there are approximately seven million people who are eligible for subsidies. By registering their protest in the system, a re-evaluation of their income will take place. Among those who have been removed from receiving subsidies, there are households where the head of the household is retired or receives a minimum pension. However, the entire household’s subsidy has been removed due to the income of their child or their ownership of a car or bank deposit. A middle-aged man who is retired from the army says that two cars in his file belong to his two sons.

Among these are also those who, due to marriage or divorce, have faced a new structure in their families. They are among those who have gone to the Ministry of Welfare to protest; children who have been separated from their families for years, but have not separated their subsidies, which has resulted in their incomes and assets being recorded under the accounts of low-income families.

Card reader, a deadly disaster.

Some protesters say that their subsidies have been removed due to financial transactions in their bank accounts. Some shopkeepers or street vendors who use card readers for their transactions have been deprived of receiving subsidies due to high transaction rates. Others who have responsibilities such as managing buildings, being members of mosque boards, etc. have also been placed in the tenth decile of income due to high numbers of financial transactions. As one building manager waiting in line said, they have both taken the beating and the onion; they have both had responsibilities and have been caught in financial losses.

Seekers of help.

Individuals under the coverage of welfare organizations and relief committees are often excluded from the list of subsidy recipients because they own a car. This creates a strange contradiction, as these individuals are classified as belonging to the lower income bracket in some databases, but are registered and reported as belonging to the tenth decile in the Iranian Welfare Database, which is the basis for receiving subsidies. The information related to the purchase and sale of cars and the licensing of workshops is also from the year 1397, which is another problem for this group.

Right to protest.

The individuals who gathered in the courtyard of the Ministry of Welfare to protest the lack of payment for the new subsidy cannot be considered representatives of a specific group, because firstly, these individuals have a certain level of protest spirit and have protested for their rights. Secondly, this group knew where to go to protest. And most importantly, they had documents and identification papers to support their claims. There are many people living on the outskirts of cities with minimal resources and sometimes without any identification papers, who by fate are entitled to the subsidy more than anyone else. Those who came to protest believe that the oil money belongs to everyone and the government should distribute it equally among all people. There are also those who claim that their subsidy has been unjustly removed, but it is evident through their national ID number that several vehicles are registered under their name. Some even have their iPhones in hand when entering their household head’s national ID number, but all of this does not relieve the government of its responsibility. According to macro