What Happened
- The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026 has been passed by both Houses of Parliament, amending 784 provisions across 79 Central Acts administered by 23 Ministries.
- Of the 784 amendments: 717 provisions have been decriminalized to promote Ease of Doing Business, and 67 provisions have been amended to facilitate Ease of Living.
- The Bill follows Jan Vishwas Act, 2023, which decriminalized 183 provisions in its first edition — the 2026 version is nearly 4.3 times wider in scope.
- A Select Committee chaired by Tejasvi Surya conducted 49 sittings and submitted its report on 13 March 2026, recommending further expansion of decriminalization before the Bill was passed.
- Key structural changes: criminal offences converted to civil penalties (e.g., contraventions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, now carry civil penalties of ₹1 lakh or three times the value of confiscated goods rather than imprisonment).
- The Bill introduces improvement notices and proportionate penalties for first-time contraventions — embedding a graduated, trust-first approach into regulatory enforcement.
- The reform was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.
Static Topic Bridges
Decriminalization and Ease of Doing Business in India
India's regulatory framework inherited from the colonial era and subsequent legislation contains thousands of provisions that make minor procedural violations criminal offences punishable by imprisonment — creating a chilling effect on business activity and compliance.
- India's rank in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index improved from 142nd (2014) to 63rd (2020) before the index was discontinued; domestic reforms were a key driver.
- The existence of imprisonment provisions for technical or procedural violations forces businesses into defensive compliance — prioritizing legal protection over innovation.
- Decriminalization typically involves: converting imprisonment-based penalties to monetary fines, introducing compounding provisions (settlement without prosecution), and creating adjudicatory alternatives to courts.
- The Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 (first edition) had amended 42 Central Acts and decriminalized 183 provisions across sectors including agriculture, environment, food safety, and industry.
- International comparisons show that economies with civil (not criminal) enforcement regimes for business regulation attract more FDI and report lower compliance costs.
Connection to this news: Jan Vishwas 2.0 dramatically expands the decriminalization agenda — from 183 provisions (2023) to 784 provisions (2026). The scale of the reform signals a systematic policy shift from "command and control" to "trust-based governance."
Trust-Based Regulation — Principles and Design
The trust-based compliance model is a regulatory philosophy that presumes good faith on the part of businesses and individuals, using penalty escalation and proportionality rather than automatic criminalization.
- Core principles: proportionality (penalty proportional to harm), graduated response (warning → civil penalty → criminal prosecution only for egregious violations), and clarity (businesses should be able to understand what is expected without legal counsel).
- The UK's "Better Regulation" framework and Singapore's "Pro-Enterprise Panel" are international examples of institutionalized trust-based regulation.
- In India, the concept was first formally articulated in the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019, which decriminalized several compoundable offences.
- Improvement notices (introduced in Jan Vishwas 2.0) are a tool from this framework: a regulator identifies a violation but gives the enterprise a fixed period to correct it before imposing any penalty.
- Proportionality in penalties ensures that a small enterprise making a procedural error faces a fine it can absorb, rather than criminal prosecution that can destroy the business.
Connection to this news: The article specifically highlights Jan Vishwas 2.0 as embodying "clarity and proportionality" — the two foundational principles of trust-based regulation. The improvement notice mechanism and graduated penalty structure are concrete implementations of this philosophy.
Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 — Significance of Reform
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act (DCA) is India's primary legislation governing manufacture, distribution, and sale of drugs and cosmetics — and has historically contained some of the most stringent criminal penalties in Indian business law.
- The DCA, 1940 was enacted during British rule and retains colonial-era enforcement provisions, including imprisonment for relatively minor labelling or documentation violations.
- Under the old framework, penalties for certain DCA violations included imprisonment of up to 3 years, making drug retailers and small manufacturers legally vulnerable for paperwork errors.
- India's pharmaceutical industry is the world's third largest by volume — with 3,000+ manufacturers, including thousands of MSMEs — making the compliance environment under DCA critical for industry viability.
- The Jan Vishwas 2.0 amendment converts DCA imprisonment provisions into civil penalties of ₹1 lakh or three times the value of confiscated goods — removing criminal prosecution as the first-resort tool.
- This change is particularly significant for generic drug manufacturers and retailers who serve the mass market and were historically exposed to prosecutorial risk for technical violations.
Connection to this news: The DCA reform exemplifies the broader Jan Vishwas 2.0 approach — taking a high-impact, high-coverage sector (pharmaceuticals) where criminal penalties were historically disproportionate, and replacing imprisonment with civil accountability.
Key Facts & Data
- Bill name: Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026
- Scope: 784 provisions across 79 Central Acts, 23 Ministries
- Provisions decriminalised: 717 (Ease of Doing Business); 67 (Ease of Living)
- Select Committee: chaired by Tejasvi Surya; 49 sittings; report submitted March 13, 2026
- Comparison to Jan Vishwas Act, 2023: 183 provisions across 42 Acts (first edition)
- Drugs and Cosmetics Act change: imprisonment → civil penalty of ₹1 lakh or 3× confiscated goods value
- New tools introduced: improvement notices, proportionate penalties for first-time violations
- Introduced by: Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada
- Governance philosophy shift: "command-and-control" → "trust-based governance"