Usury Victims Stage Protest in Kathmandu
By Carlota Leitão
On July 31, 2023, in Kathmandu, individuals who have fallen prey to usury, commonly called “Meter-Byaj,” organized a rally and sit-in program at Shantibatika and Maitighar. They called upon the government to address their concerns. Usury has emerged as a significant social issue, where unscrupulous lenders provide loans to economically disadvantaged individuals at exorbitant interest rates, increasing these rates over time.
Recently, Nepal’s House of Representatives and National Assembly passed a bill, which the President signed into law.
This legislation includes provisions for punishing individuals involved in usurious lending practices nationwide.
Now, usury, which involves lending money to earn high interest, is considered a crime and carries a prison sentence of up to 7 years and a fine of Rs 70,000.
They are determined to fight this injustice and defend their rights. They have turned the Santibatika Ratnapark into their home, setting up several tents where they sleep collectively, cook together, wash, and hang their clothes on lines spread throughout the park. They have no intention of giving up and plan to continue the protests until their situation is resolved.
Here are some of the key issues faced by usury victims in Nepal:
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Moneylenders often lend money at extremely high-interest rates, well above market rates. This creates an unsustainable financial burden for borrowers, leading to a debt spiral.
Victims are often exploited due to insufficient financial knowledge, causing them to agree to unfavorable loan terms. This includes crafting deceptive loan contracts and unauthorized increases in debt, creating an endless cycle of debt where they are constantly taking out additional loans to pay off previous debts.
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Additionally, some moneylenders resort to intimidation tactics, physical threats, and coercion to force borrowers to repay their debts, creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity. Before the criminalization of usury in Nepal, victims had little to no legal protection against these predatory practices. This made it difficult to seek justice or resolve disputes. Usury devastates the lives of victims and their families, often leading to the loss of assets properties, and even complete financial ruin, perpetuating a cycle of persistent poverty.
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The criminalization of usury in Nepal, as mentioned in the previous translation, is a positive step in pursuing justice and the protection of the rights of victims. However, ongoing efforts must be made to educate the public about the dangers of usury and ensure the law’s effective enforcement to prevent future victims and assist those who have already been affected by this harmful practice.
Carlota Leitão
Carlota Leitão is a Portuguese photographer. She is mainly inspired by documentary photography and the opportunity to create photos that speak and tell stories. It’s not about capturing the perfect image in the most aesthetic or shocking fraction of a second that she puts her photographer’s attention on but in the humanity story behind it, reflecting the human effort being made to achieve something that feels important in a given context.Her work addresses topics such as Drag Queen Identities, medical emergencies, voyeurism, pandemic confinement, and humanitarian work, all presented in individual and collective exhibitions in Europe and America.
Leitão’s photographs have already been published in several newspapers, magazines, and online, namely Jornal de Notícias, Expresso, Visão, Caras, Record, Enewspolar, myRepública, Himalayan. She also likes to take photos of pauses, reflection, and contemplation, photos she takes around the world and called “It’s the little things.”
Born in Portugal, she has a degree in Advertising Engineering. In 2002, she took the initiation and advanced courses in Photography at the Instituto Português da Juventude (IPJ), and in 2007, the professional course in Photography at the Instituto Português de Fotografia (IPF).
In 2003, she participated for the first time in an exhibition group with the theme “nude” in the several regional offices of the IPJ. In 2008, exhibited in a Collective Exhibition, “Lá e Cá” in Brasilia, Brazil-Exhibition that distinguishes the best works of the year by students from IPF-Porto, Lisbon and Senac Brasil – São Paulo. In 2009, she exhibited her known work at the “Voyeur” exhibition at the IPF, at a group exhibition at the Biennale Milheirós II, and in 2010, at the Cultural Center Trofa. Also, this same year, with her work “Identities – Drag Queen,” she was selected for a group exhibition in Italy and the publication of the book Lee-Make History Second Exhibition with over 100 photographers worldwide.
In the same year, Leitão made the cover of the Jornal de Notícias -Photographic report “5 cars burned in two days” and saw her documentary report on INEM published in the Newsletter of the Institution. In 2011, this work was made known in a solo exhibition titled “INEM – Stories of Limbo” in “Casa do Alto” by invitation of the Municipal Council of Maia, Portugal.
Again, in the same year, she was awarded with a three-month scholarship to develop a tactile photography project at Senac in São Paulo, Brazil, curated by João Kulcsar. This part of the author’s work and documentary photography continues to work and integrates most of her works.
In parallel with her documentary photography and photojournalism, she created Fullframe in 2009, a photography company supporting companies and brands with professional services in the field of Photography.
In 2012, she launched the technical book on studio photography “Luzes Câmara Ação,” in an Author edition, in partnership with photographer Pedro do Canto Brum, which aims to provide students, amateurs, and professionals with an instrument that explains and exemplifies how Photography is actually produced in the studio.
After a ten-year hiatus, she began to accept exhibition invitations again. In 2022, she had two exhibitions at the Holy Art Gallery in London.
In May, She exhibited ‘DISCONNECT’ with the project ‘Under the Skin’ and in June, ‘AESTHETICA’ with the Quarantine project.
The year 2023 Started with a Collective exhibition, ‘VISIONS,’ presenting the ‘It’s The Little Things’ project. At the Tapial Virtual, Santiago do Chile.
Carlota Leitão lives in Porto, Portugal, from where she leaves for documentary trips several times a year.
“For creating this project, I collaborated with a local journalist who took it upon themselves to communicate my presence to the people to conduct a photographic report for the local newspapers. Due to the language barrier, direct communication was not possible, but through gestures and, in some situations, with translation assistance, they guided me to the locations to capture images, and the people showed great comfort with my presence.
I photographed people in their tents; some engaged in conversations while others were asleep. I also captured moments during lunch and daily tasks such as dishwashing, laundry, and drying clothes.
As the peaceful protest approached, surrounded by the police to create a protective barrier, mainly due to traffic concerns, I accompanied them and documented their protests.
For this, I shot with the Canon 5D MKIV, the 24-70mm f2.8 L lens, and the 70-200mm f2.8 L lens.”
