Overview of the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, is designed to enhance the ease of doing business by amending 784 provisions in 79 different parliamentary legislations.
Key Amendments
- Decriminalization of 717 provisions.
- Improvements to ease of living through 67 provisions.
- Laws impacted include:
- The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
- The Pharmacy Act, 1948
- The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
- The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010
- The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021
Objectives and Impact
The Bill aims to replace criminal penalties for minor procedural violations with graded monetary penalties and a structured adjudication mechanism with appellate provisions.
- Aims to address the backlog of around 50 million pending court cases involving minor offences.
- Seeks to move cases from judicial to executive domains, reducing litigation and compliance costs.
- Introduces graded enforcement such as advisory notices, warnings, rather than immediate criminal action.
Context and Complementary Reforms
- Part of a broader policy intervention to improve the business environment over the past decade.
- The Jan Vishwas Act, 2023, decriminalized 183 provisions across 42 central Acts.
- The Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposes further amendments for ease of compliance and governance.
- Complemented by reforms in insolvency law, goods and services tax, and labor law consolidation.
Challenges and Future Directions
Decriminalization alone is not sufficient for improving the ease of doing business; reducing compliance, approvals, and regulatory overlaps are essential.
- The need to reduce the number of compliances and harmonize regulations across states.
- Importance of expanding faceless and digital governance systems.
- Successful implementation depends on transparent adjudication, proportionate penalties, and strong appellate mechanisms.
