March 31: The Government has started negotiations with the victims of loan sharking, who are staging protests in the federal capital. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the talks held at Singha Durbar ended on a positive note on Thursday.    
The victims presented a nine-point written demand during the negotiation with the government’s talks team, the state-owned RSS reported. Under Secretary at the home ministry and a member of the negotiation team, Dil Kumar Tamang, told RSS that they discussed the demands in a clause-wise manner. 
"During the talks, we informed them about the government's efforts so far including the progress in amending the concerned law, while their demands were also discussed in a point-wise manner," RSS quoted Tamang as saying. "They said that they will discuss the latest development with their friends."    
During the discussion with the government talks team, the victims of loan sharking put forth demands such as the formation of a competent commission, the resolution of the cases in the court and the cancellation of loan-paper made by the money lenders.    
It may be noted that the government formed talks team led by Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Rudra Devi Sharma, while the usury victims talks team is led by Manoj Paswan, the coordinator of the struggle committee.    
In an effort to respond to the demands of the victims of illegal money lending, the government has decided to amend the Criminal Code to criminalize the act of usury.    
The victims of usury travelled to Kathmandu by foot from different districts of Tarai to draw the attention of the federal government towards their plight, RSS reported.