Lok Sabha to Take Up Bill Decriminalising Minor Offences on Monday

New Delhi, Aug 17: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will introduce the Jan Vishwas (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha on Monday, seeking to amend over 350 provisions to decriminalise minor offences and promote ease of living and business.

According to the Lok Sabha business list, the bill aims to rationalise offences and enhance trust-based governance by replacing imprisonment and fines with penalties in several cases.

Officials said the legislation will help create a more conducive and citizen-centric business environment. The move follows the 2023 Jan Vishwas Act, which decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 central laws administered by 19 ministries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech, stressed the need to abolish archaic laws that provided imprisonment for trivial matters, underlining the government’s resolve to remove unnecessary compliances.

So far, the government has scrapped over 1,500 obsolete laws and eliminated more than 40,000 compliance requirements to simplify governance and ease business operations.(Agencies