Jan Vishwas 2.0: Centre set to table decriminalisation bill in Lok Sabha. Here are five things to look out for

The central government is set to table the Jan Vishwas 2.0 bill in front of the Lok Sabha on Monday, 18 August 2025, as the nation is looking to amend several laws and bring in the new concept of decriminalisation by introducing an ‘improvement notice’ instead of a penalty for an offence, reported the news portal Indian Express on Saturday, 16 August 2025. 

Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet of India cleared the Jan Vishwas 2.0 bill which is aiming to decriminalise and rationalise the punishment of offences based on a trust basis governance for the ease of doing business.

“In our country, there are such laws that can put people in jail for very small things — you would be shocked. No one has really paid attention to them. I have been pursuing this, because these unnecessary laws that put our country’s citizens behind bars should be abolished. We had introduced a Bill in Parliament earlier, and we have brought it again this time,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 79th Independence Day speech. 

Here are five things to look out for

1. Improvement notice — In the Jan Vishwas 2.0 bill, the centre has proposed to introduce a concept of an ‘improvement notice’ instead of a penalty for a first time offender.

In the Budget 2025 announcement, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will bring the Jan Vishwas 2.0 this year, though which the Centre aims to decriminalise more than 180 legal provisions.

“In the Jan Vishwas Act 2023, more than 180 legal provisions were decriminalised. Our government will now bring up the Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to decriminalise more than 100 provisions in various laws,” said Sitharaman in the Budget speech. 

2. Shift of approach — The proposed bill bring forth a shift of approach of the central government moving from a “penalise on first detection” approach of the Jan Vishwas 1.0 which was imposed as a law in 2023, into a “inform–correct–penalise” approach soon to be mandated as the law.

Through this move, the government aims to promote the ease of doing business and trust-based regulation while maintaining deterrence for repeated violations, a person aware of the development told the news portal.

3. No penalty on first offence — According to the proposed bill, the first time offenders will not be charged any penalty for their offence and will be served an opportunity to rectify their non-compliance withing a pre-set period.

4. Increasing subsequent fines — In case an entity becomes a repeat offender, the penalties will start to be applicable from the second offence onwards. 

According to the news portal’s report, the penalty which will be applicable will be the same as it was for the first offence in Jan Vishwas 1.0. The proposal also mandates that the fines charged will increase for the subsequent offences subject to a maximum cap depending on the sections.

5. Changes via Jan Vishwas 1.0 — According to the Jan Vishwas Act of 2023, in efforts to decriminalise several offences under various laws, the Indian government removed the Section 41 of the Food Corporations Act, 1964 which punished imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or a fine of ₹1,000, or both in case of a using FCI’s name in any prospectus or advertisement without its consent in writing.

Another case was when the Jan Vishwas Act removed the 6-month imprisonment penalty for tree felling or damage caused by cattle in protected forests; they have however, kept ₹500 as a fine for the same in efforts to decriminalise.