What Happened
- The Lok Sabha passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026 by a voice vote on April 1, 2026.
- The Bill amends 79 Central Acts administered by 23 Ministries to decriminalise or rationalise 784 provisions — of these, 717 relate to ease of doing business and 67 to ease of living.
- Minor, technical, and procedural offences that previously carried imprisonment are replaced with graded civil and administrative penalties.
- Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal framed the Bill as a shift from a colonial "punish everything" mindset to a trust-based governance model.
- Specific examples: drug manufacturers who fail to print place of manufacture on a label will face a penalty rather than jail; honking in a metro or smoking in a designated non-smoking zone will attract fines instead of criminal prosecution.
- Opposition members raised concerns that converting criminal liability to a monetary penalty would make it easier for corporations to escape accountability and shift adjudication from courts to the bureaucracy.
- The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 27, 2026, and was examined by a Select Committee headed by BJP MP Tejaswi Surya before passage.
- A built-in inflation adjustment mechanism revises fines upward by 10% every three years.
Static Topic Bridges
Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 — The Precursor
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 (Act No. 18 of 2023) was India's first systematic decriminalisation statute, amending 42 Central Acts to replace 183 criminal provisions with civil penalties. Enacted on August 11, 2023, it was the foundational legislation of the decriminalisation initiative that the 2026 Bill now extends significantly.
- 2023 Act: 42 Central Acts, 183 provisions decriminalised
- 2026 Bill: 79 Central Acts, 784 provisions amended (717 decriminalised + 67 ease of living)
- Both Acts maintain graded penalties: the severity of the penalty scales with repeat offence or economic harm
- Implementation authority vested in sector-specific designated officers, not criminal courts
Connection to this news: The 2026 Bill is effectively "Jan Vishwas 2.0" — a direct sequel that nearly quadruples the scope of the 2023 reform, signalling a sustained legislative policy of shifting minor regulatory compliance from criminal to administrative enforcement.
Decriminalisation and Ease of Doing Business
Decriminalisation of minor regulatory offences is a globally recognised reform under the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business framework. India dropped in EoDB rankings partly due to the high number of laws carrying criminal penalties for procedural defaults. The shift from imprisonment to civil penalties is consistent with the principle that criminal law should be reserved for genuinely anti-social conduct, not technical or paperwork failures.
- India ranked 63rd (out of 190) in World Bank's EoDB Index 2020 (last published year)
- Criminal liability for minor defaults remains a barrier to FDI and MSME growth
- Countries like Singapore and the UK decriminalised similar regulatory offences in the 1990s–2000s
- The principle of proportionality in punishment is derived from Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution (right to equality and life/personal liberty)
Connection to this news: The 2026 Bill directly targets this drag on business competitiveness. By removing the threat of imprisonment for technical violations — such as missing a label field — it lowers the perceived compliance risk for manufacturers and MSMEs without diluting the law's deterrent effect through graded escalating penalties.
Parliament's Legislative Process: Select Committees
A Select Committee of the Lok Sabha is a special parliamentary instrument constituted to examine a specific Bill in detail, take expert evidence, and recommend amendments before the Bill is put to a floor vote. It differs from a Standing Committee (permanent, subject-matter based) in that it is ad hoc and Bill-specific.
- Governed by Rules 88–96 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha
- A Joint Committee (JPC) involves members from both Houses; a Select Committee is House-specific
- The Select Committee on Jan Vishwas 2026 was chaired by BJP MP Tejaswi Surya
- After the committee submits its report, the full House debates and votes on the Bill
Connection to this news: The Bill's referral to a Select Committee prior to passage reflects standard practice for omnibus legislation touching multiple ministries — it allowed technical scrutiny of 79 separate Acts in a structured forum before the voice-vote passage.
Key Facts & Data
- 79 Central Acts amended; 23 Ministries covered
- 717 provisions decriminalised for ease of doing business; 67 for ease of living
- 784 total provisions amended
- Introduced: March 27, 2026; Passed by Lok Sabha: April 1, 2026
- Fines revised upward by 10% every three years (automatic inflation adjustment)
- Precursor: Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 — 42 Acts, 183 provisions
- Examples of decriminalised acts: failure to print manufacturing location on drug label, smoking in designated areas, metro honking violations