How to read the Promise Status Tracker

Political promises often move through several stages before they affect daily life. A party may make a manifesto commitment, a minister may repeat it in a speech, a cabinet may approve a policy direction, and a department may later issue a government order. Even after that, the public still needs budget details, eligibility rules, application channels, district-level rollout, and data showing whether people are actually receiving the benefit.

For that reason, TVK Tracker does not treat every announcement as completion. The promise page asks a narrower question: what can a reader verify from public records today? If the only available evidence is a manifesto statement or media report, the promise stays at the announcement or no-public-update stage. If there is a government order or official scheme document, it can move forward. If there is measurable rollout data, it becomes much stronger.

Announced means the promise or policy direction is publicly stated, but implementation evidence is still limited. In Progress means there is a visible administrative step such as an order, launch event, portfolio allocation, cabinet decision, or department-level action. Completed is reserved for cases where the core promise has a clear public record showing it has been carried out in a meaningful way.

Delayed is used when the tracker finds a public indication that the expected step has not happened on time, has been postponed, or is waiting for a later administrative decision. Needs Verification is a caution label for claims where the available reporting is too thin, conflicting, or dependent on a single source. No Public Update Yet means the tracker has not found enough public evidence after the manifesto or initial promise.

A promise may be politically important and still remain hard to verify. For example, a welfare payment promise needs more than a speech. Readers need to know who qualifies, how the amount is funded, whether a government order exists, which department runs the scheme, how applications are processed, and whether payments have begun. Without that chain of evidence, marking the promise complete would mislead readers.

The same principle applies to safety forces, employment plans, education support, anti-corruption reforms, and digital-governance projects. A launch event can be a real step, but it does not automatically prove statewide operation. TVK Tracker therefore records the launch as progress and keeps watching for staffing, budget, district coverage, and published outcomes.

Start with the status label, then read the short summary, then open the source link. The summary is designed to help readers understand the public record quickly, but the source link remains important because original publishers, official portals, and court or election records may include details that a tracker note cannot fully reproduce.

If you find a stronger source that changes the status of a promise, use the correction process. The goal is not to freeze a political judgement. The goal is to maintain a public record that can improve as better evidence appears.