Daily Mains Question - GS 2 - 29th August 2025
- TPP
- Aug 29
- 4 min read
Welcome to your Daily UPSC Mains Answer Writing Practice – GS Paper 2 (Polity, Governance, Regulatory Reforms).
Today’s question focuses on the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, which seeks to transform India’s regulatory landscape by decriminalising minor offences and replacing imprisonment with administrative penalties. With 355 provisions across 16 Central Acts proposed for amendment, this Bill represents the second phase of the government’s reform agenda after the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023.
The issue is significant because India’s regulatory system has been historically burdened by over-criminalisation of economic activity — Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy highlights 7,305 offences under 370 laws, many outside core criminal law. The Observer Research Foundation (2022) also noted that out of 1,536 business laws, more than half carry imprisonment clauses. Such excessive penalisation not only creates barriers to entrepreneurship and investment but also clogs the judiciary, with 3.6 crore pending criminal cases as of August 2024.
For UPSC aspirants, this topic is directly relevant under GS Paper 2 themes:
Polity & Governance: Reforming outdated regulatory frameworks and aligning punishment with proportionality.
Ease of Doing Business: Reducing compliance burdens on enterprises, especially MSMEs.
Judicial Reforms: Decongesting courts by shifting minor cases to administrative penalties.
Contemporary Governance Issues: Building a trust-based regulatory system that balances compliance with deterrence.
Understanding the potential benefits and limitations of such reforms is essential for writing balanced, analytical answers in Mains, while also connecting to debates on rule of law, proportionality, and regulatory governance.
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QUESTION
Critically examine the implications of the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, on India’s regulatory governance, with reference to ease of doing business and judicial decongestion.
Answer: The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, marks the continuation of India’s decriminalisation reform agenda. Following the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023, which decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 Acts, the 2025 Bill seeks amendments in 355 provisions across 16 Central Acts administered by 10 ministries, with the objective of removing imprisonment clauses for minor defaults and replacing them with administrative penalties, warnings, and improvement notices. The initiative is framed within the larger context of trust-based governance, ease of living, and ease of doing business.
Rationale Behind the Reform
Over-criminalisation of economic activity
Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy: Out of 882 central laws, 370 contain criminal provisions for 7,305 offences.
More than 75% of these offences lie outside core criminal justice areas, covering shipping, taxation, and municipal governance.
High compliance burden
Observer Research Foundation (2022): Out of 1,536 business laws, over half carry imprisonment clauses; of the 69,233 compliances, 37.8% carry imprisonment clauses, many mandating at least one year of imprisonment.
Judicial pendency
National Judicial Data Grid (Aug 2024): Over 3.6 crore pending criminal cases, of which 2.3 crore are older than one year.
Criminalising procedural lapses shifts judicial focus away from serious crimes.
Key Provisions of the 2025 Bill
Warnings and Improvement Notices: First-time offenders under 76 provisions (e.g., Motor Vehicles Act, Apprentice Act, Legal Metrology Act) may be issued improvement notices instead of facing arrest.
Substitution of imprisonment with fines: Example – non-compliance under Electricity Act, 2003 now carries a fine between ₹10,000–₹10 lakh instead of three months’ imprisonment.
Penalty rationalisation: Automatic 10% increase in fines every three years to maintain deterrence without repeated legislative amendments.
Targeted decriminalisation: Aims at minor technical violations while retaining criminality for fraudulent or wilful misconduct.
Benefits for Ease of Doing Business
Reduction in regulatory fear: Entrepreneurs can focus on innovation and productivity instead of fear of arrest for minor lapses.
Lower cost of compliance: Administrative penalties replace litigation-heavy imprisonment clauses, cutting compliance costs.
Investor confidence: Predictable, proportionate penalties improve India’s global rankings in ease of doing business and regulatory quality.
Encouragement for MSMEs: Acts like MSMED Act, Legal Metrology Act, and APEDA Act are amended, directly reducing risks for small enterprises.
Judicial Decongestion Benefits
Filtering minor cases: By shifting procedural and technical violations out of courts, space is created for serious cases.
Proportionality in law: Aligns with the principle that punishment must fit the offence, reducing scope for arbitrary state power.
Systemic efficiency: Lesser burden on police, prosecutors, and judges allows better allocation of resources.
Concerns and Limitations
Risk of reduced deterrence: Monetary penalties may be absorbed as “cost of business” by large corporations.
Implementation challenge: Effective enforcement depends on administrative efficiency and transparency.
Possibility of misuse: Discretionary powers to inspectors in issuing improvement notices may reintroduce rent-seeking behaviour if not regulated.
Unequal impact: MSMEs may still struggle to pay fines compared to larger firms.
The Jan Vishwas Bill, 2025, is a landmark reform in regulatory governance, balancing compliance facilitation with deterrence. By replacing imprisonment with proportionate penalties, it addresses judicial pendency, reduces criminalisation of business laws, and fosters investor trust. However, to sustain its benefits, institutional safeguards, inspector accountability, and graded penalties must be ensured. The reform, if executed well, can become a cornerstone of India’s transition from a control-based compliance regime to a trust-based regulatory framework.
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