India is taking steps to make its laws simpler and reduce unnecessary compliance requirements. The Jan Vishwas Act is a key part of this effort. It aims to ensure that minor violations do not automatically lead to criminal penalties, making the regulatory system more practical and balanced.
The reform is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Jan Seva Se Desh Seva and the goal of building a Viksit Bharat by 2047. It reflects the government’s efforts to improve governance by reviewing outdated laws and making regulations more relevant to present-day needs.
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Moving Away from Criminal Penalties for Minor Offences
For years, several Indian laws treated even small procedural mistakes as criminal offences. Many of these provisions came from older regulatory systems and needed to be reviewed.
To address this, the government introduced the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023. The Act removed criminal penalties for several minor offences across multiple Central laws.
The government continued this effort through the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, which was passed by Parliament in April 2026. After becoming an Act, it rationalised more than 1,000 offences by removing outdated and redundant provisions.
The objective is to make the law more proportionate to the nature of a violation. In other words, a minor procedural mistake should not necessarily be treated as a criminal offence.
Making Compliance Simpler
The Jan Vishwas Act is part of a broader effort to reduce unnecessary rules and make compliance easier.
In his Independence Day address in 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government had abolished more than 40,000 unnecessary compliance requirements and scrapped over 1,500 obsolete laws.
These measures aim to remove rules that are no longer needed and simplify the process of complying with regulations. The Jan Vishwas reforms take this effort further by reviewing how minor offences are treated under the law.
By removing outdated provisions and reducing criminal penalties for certain violations, the government aims to create a regulatory system that is easier to understand and more practical to follow.
Addressing a press conference after the Bill was passed, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal described the legislation as an important milestone in India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047.
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The Act also follows the principles of proportionate and risk-based regulation. This means that the response to a violation should depend on its nature and seriousness, rather than treating every offence in the same way.
By rationalising more than 1,000 offences, the government is working to make India’s regulatory framework more modern and balanced.
The Jan Vishwas Act marks an important step towards simpler laws and more practical compliance requirements. Its focus on reducing unnecessary criminal penalties reflects a wider effort to make governance more effective and align the regulatory system with India’s long-term development goals.