Sahid Parvez (37), a clerk in state-owned Central Coalfields Ltd, generally walks his way to office or when he feels rich rides an ageing two-wheeler. He lives in a cramped two-room house and borrows daily newspapers to keep himself abreast with the latest in the world. He may be just another Sunni Muslim, but what is striking about Parvez is his credit history as reflected in the files of LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LHFL) that lent Rs 2.90 lakh, facilitating the purchase of his dream home. But, now, he is in a debt trap, a feature not so uncommon among employed youths in Jharkhand today.

However, he is not ready to talk about it. When pressed, he says: “Despite being aware that taking or giving interest on debt is prohibited by Islam, I took a loan to buy a house of my own. It is only after I have landed myself in deep trouble that I realised the significance.”

Parvez had no ancestral property to fall back on. The responsibility of educating his younger brother, Sajid (24), a student in a private college offering diploma courses, was squarely on his shoulders after his mother and father G M Haider, a technical staff in Central Coalfields Ltd, passed away in 2001.

Parvez’s LHFL file (a copy of which is with The Indian Express) tells the story of a tier-2 or tier-3 city youth forced to postpone his own marriage, among other sacrifices, after his home loan tenure got extended, following a steady increase in interest rates.

... contd.