Don’t let them down

The loan sharking problem will not go away without addressing the financial vulnerabilities of the poor.

The government has shown a semblance of responsibility by introducing an ordinance to criminalise loan sharking, amending the Criminal (Code) Act-2017 as well as the Civil (Code) Act-2017 and Criminal Procedure (code) Act-2017. It should now ensure that the two houses of Parliament pass it within the 60-day deadline of its introduction. The ordinance has taken big steps to discourage the inappropriate lending that has led thousands of poor families across the country, especially in the southern plains of Tarai, into further poverty, distress and displacement from their homes. This is a crucial step to providing justice to the poor and often uneducated people who have faced multidimensional abuse from wealthy loan sharks. The ordinance itself, though, is only the first step in solving the loan sharking problem. The government must make sure that it is implemented in a way that solves the crisis facing the loanees.