Key Terms & Concepts — UPSC Mains
Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2.0, 2026
"India's second major decriminalisation law (2026), amending 784 provisions across 79 Acts and 23 Ministries to remove imprisonment for minor regulatory violations — building on the Jan Vishwas Act 2023 which decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 Acts."
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2.0, 2026, is India's second large-scale legislative decriminalisation exercise, amending 784 provisions across 79 Central Acts and 23 Ministries. The law replaces criminal sanctions (imprisonment + fine) with civil/administrative penalties (fines, adjudication) for minor regulatory violations that do not involve moral turpitude or public safety risk. The law is built on the philosophy that criminalisation of minor regulatory non-compliance creates a 'fear of doing business' — entrepreneurs, professionals, and citizens face disproportionate legal jeopardy for technical or administrative lapses that are better addressed through civil penalties. **Jan Vishwas 2.0's two-track structure:** - **EoDB track (Ease of Doing Business):** 717 provisions targeting business regulatory compliance — trade, industry, environmental reporting, labour, food safety - **EoL track (Ease of Living):** 67 provisions targeting citizen-facing compliances — driving violations, minor civic infractions, consumer-facing regulations **Comparison with Jan Vishwas Act 1.0 (2023):** | Metric | JV 1.0 (2023) | JV 2.0 (2026) | |--------|--------------|---------------| | Provisions amended | 183 | 784 | | Acts covered | 42 | 79 | | Ministries | 19 | 23 | The law does NOT decriminalise provisions related to national security, terrorism, financial fraud, environmental disasters, sexual offences, or any offence involving bodily harm.
Directly relevant for GS2 (Governance — regulatory reform, ease of doing business) and GS3 (Economy — MSME, investment climate, regulatory burden). India's rank in World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business' index (now discontinued, replaced by B-Ready) has been a recurring policy priority — decriminalisation is a key structural reform.
- 1 Full name: Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2.0, 2026
- 2 Scale: 784 provisions amended across 79 Acts and 23 Ministries
- 3 EoDB track: 717 provisions (business compliance) | EoL track: 67 provisions (citizen compliance)
- 4 Mechanism: replaces imprisonment with fines, compounding, or adjudication
- 5 Jan Vishwas 1.0 (2023): 183 provisions / 42 Acts — first decriminalisation wave
- 6 Carve-outs: no decriminalisation for security, fraud, environment disasters, bodily harm
- 7 Legal basis: enables administrative adjudication as alternative to criminal courts
- 8 Policy connection: Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) + Ease of Living (EoL)
- 9 World Bank Business-Ready (B-Ready) index: regulatory framework is a scored component
- 10 Reduces burden on criminal courts: minor regulatory violations clogged India's overburdened judiciary
Under Jan Vishwas 2.0, a factory owner who files an environmental compliance report one day late would previously have faced imprisonment under the Environment Protection Act. Post-amendment, the same lapse triggers a civil penalty adjudicated by an administrative authority — the business stays operational, the courts stay unclogged, and the penalty still deters non-compliance.
