India, Sept. 2 -- India's journey toward regulatory reform and trust-based governance has taken another significant step forward with the introduction of the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha. The Jan Vishwas Act 2023 was India's first consolidated effort to decriminalise minor offences across multiple laws. The new bill builds on the 2023 Act to further India's transition from a punitive regulatory framework to one focused on ease of doing business and ease of living. The Bill proposes to amend 355 provisions across 16 central Acts administered by 10 ministries and departments.

Some of these criminal provisions originate from the colonial period, but most are from the socialist era when there was a deep-...