Latest news with #JanVishwas1.0
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Jan Vishwas 2.0: Centre set to table decriminalisation bill in Lok Sabha. Here are five things to look out for
The central government is set to table the Jan Vishwas 2.0 bill in front of the Lok Sabha on Monday, 18 August 2025, as the nation is looking to amend several laws and bring in the new concept of decriminalisation by introducing an 'improvement notice' instead of a penalty for an offence, reported the news portal Indian Express on Saturday, 16 August 2025. Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet of India cleared the Jan Vishwas 2.0 bill which is aiming to decriminalise and rationalise the punishment of offences based on a trust basis governance for the ease of doing business. 'In our country, there are such laws that can put people in jail for very small things — you would be shocked. No one has really paid attention to them. I have been pursuing this, because these unnecessary laws that put our country's citizens behind bars should be abolished. We had introduced a Bill in Parliament earlier, and we have brought it again this time,' said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 79th Independence Day speech. 1. Improvement notice — In the Jan Vishwas 2.0 bill, the centre has proposed to introduce a concept of an 'improvement notice' instead of a penalty for a first time offender. In the Budget 2025 announcement, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will bring the Jan Vishwas 2.0 this year, though which the Centre aims to decriminalise more than 180 legal provisions. "In the Jan Vishwas Act 2023, more than 180 legal provisions were decriminalised. Our government will now bring up the Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to decriminalise more than 100 provisions in various laws," said Sitharaman in the Budget speech. 2. Shift of approach — The proposed bill bring forth a shift of approach of the central government moving from a 'penalise on first detection' approach of the Jan Vishwas 1.0 which was imposed as a law in 2023, into a 'inform–correct–penalise' approach soon to be mandated as the law. Through this move, the government aims to promote the ease of doing business and trust-based regulation while maintaining deterrence for repeated violations, a person aware of the development told the news portal. 3. No penalty on first offence — According to the proposed bill, the first time offenders will not be charged any penalty for their offence and will be served an opportunity to rectify their non-compliance withing a pre-set period. 4. Increasing subsequent fines — In case an entity becomes a repeat offender, the penalties will start to be applicable from the second offence onwards. According to the news portal's report, the penalty which will be applicable will be the same as it was for the first offence in Jan Vishwas 1.0. The proposal also mandates that the fines charged will increase for the subsequent offences subject to a maximum cap depending on the sections. 5. Changes via Jan Vishwas 1.0 — According to the Jan Vishwas Act of 2023, in efforts to decriminalise several offences under various laws, the Indian government removed the Section 41 of the Food Corporations Act, 1964 which punished imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or a fine of ₹ 1,000, or both in case of a using FCI's name in any prospectus or advertisement without its consent in writing. Another case was when the Jan Vishwas Act removed the 6-month imprisonment penalty for tree felling or damage caused by cattle in protected forests; they have however, kept ₹ 500 as a fine for the same in efforts to decriminalise.
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Centre set to table Jan Vishwas 2.0 in Lok Sabha: First-time offenders to get ‘Improvement Notice', not penalty
The Centre is set to introduce the Jan Vishwas Bill (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025 in Lok Sabha Monday, which among dozens of changes in various laws will have a new concept of 'improvement notice' instead of penalty for first offence, The Indian Express has learnt. The Bill, cleared by the Union Cabinet earlier this week, is aimed at amending certain enactments for decriminalising and rationalising offences to enhance trust-based governance for ease of living and doing business. In her Budget speech on February 1, 2025, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had promised to bring in Jan Vishwas 2.0. 'In the Jan Vishwas Act 2023, more than 180 legal provisions were decriminalised. Our government will now bring up the Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to decriminalise more than 100 provisions in various laws,' she had said. In the proposed Bill, it is learnt that a new provision has been added to define the 'improvement notice' and to make it applicable to multiple sections. This marks a shift from the 'penalise on first detection' approach of Jan Vishwas 1.0 (enacted into law in 2023) to an 'inform–correct–penalise' model in Jan Vishwas 2.0 (the 2025 Bill) and aligns with the government's objective of promoting ease of doing business and trust-based regulation, while maintaining deterrence for repeated violations, said a source. As per the proposed amendments, no penalty will be imposed for first offence and an improvement notice will be served instead, giving an opportunity to rectify the non-compliance within a stipulated period, it is learnt. Penalties apply from second offence onwards, and the amount will be the same as it was for first offence in Jan Vishwas 1.0. Fines will increase for subsequent offences, subject to a maximum cap depending on the Sections. This structure retains full decriminalisation while adding a formal improvement notice mechanism to encourage voluntary compliance before financial sanctions are applied, thereby reducing fear of punitive action for minor, unintentional mistakes, said a source. In his Independence Day speech Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, 'In our country, there are such laws that can put people in jail for very small things — you would be shocked. No one has really paid attention to them. I have been pursuing this, because these unnecessary laws that put our country's citizens behind bars should be abolished. We had introduced a Bill in Parliament earlier, and we have brought it again this time.' Earlier the government had enacted the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, to decriminalise several offences under various laws. For instance, Section 41 of the Food Corporations Act, 1964 was omitted by the Act. As per the original provisions of Section 41, the use of FCI's name in any prospectus or advertisement without its consent in writing, was punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may go up to Rs 1,000, or both. However, it was removed by the Jan Vishwas Act. Similarly, the provision of imprisonment up to 6 months was removed from the Section 33 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 for tree felling or damage caused by cattle in protected forests, and Rs 500 fine was kept.
