Jan Vishwas Bill To Reduce 35,000 Compliances, Decriminalise 3,400 Offences

While the Congress today ended the suspense over the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi, by declaring that it will oppose "all assaults of the Narendra Modi government on the constitutional rights of democratically elected state governments," the BJP too is preparing hard for the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. 

The Monsoon Session will take up a number of bills, including Jan Vishwas and Forest Conservation, – all of which have been opposed by the Opposition earlier.  

The Jan Vishwas Bill 2022, seeks to amend 181 provisions across 42 laws and rationalise criminal provisions.

While introducing the bill in the last Parliament session before it was sent to the joint committee, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said that there are numerous laws in the nation with provisions for punishment for small offences, for which individuals often have to approach the judiciary. 

He said that doing away with antiquated provisions in the laws will help lessen the burden on the courts.

At the heart of the bill is an attempt to boost investor confidence and improve the country's ease of doing business rankings, and address the fear of imprisonment for minor offences that hampers growth of the business ecosystem and individual confidence, the draft said. 

Consultations across 19 ministries have been held to bring about the changes, it's learnt. Reports have said that an average manufacturing firm with more than 150 employees deals with 500- 900 compliances in a year that cost nearly Rs 16 lakh every year, apart from criminal action on some entrepreneurs which affects the confidence of both domestic and international investors.

A senior official speaking on the necessity of the Jan Vishwas bill said, "The JPC report has already proposed reducing the burden of over 35000 compliances across 42 laws and decriminalisation of 3,400 legal provisions with monetary penalties. Nearly 30 of these laws are directly linked to industry and trade. Be it the Industries Act or the Trade Marks Act and even the Food Safety Act or the IT Act, there should be provisions to move on with penalties that are reasonable, which is what the Jan Vishwas Bill proposes to do."

The government has listed the bill to replace the ordinance on Delhi services that curtails state government's powers over bureaucracy.  The issue is a political hot pocket as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has already met heads of various opposition parties over the last one month to garner support against the bill. 

The support of the Congress which is the largest opposition party in the upper house with 31 members will be critical for AAP as the BJP-led NDA has the support of 109 MPs in the Rajya Sabha out of 238. and is also expecting support from Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YSRCP that have nine MPs each in the upper house.

Personal Data Protection Bill to have implication on privacy

The Centre also plans to bring in the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 that has seen a lot of back and forth movement in Parliament since 2019. The bill will have implications on the way personal data is stored and processed in the country, on how apps seek blanket permissions, and even penalties that companies are liable to pay in case of data breaches. 

 "The bill aims to establish the comprehensive legal framework governing digital personal data protection in India," said a government circular. The personal data protection comes after the previous iteration of the bill was shelved by the government last year.

 NRF Bill to boost investment in research 

Similarly, the Centre also plans to introduce the National Research Foundation Bill that looks at boosting the country's expenditure in research across sectors, and also improving the private sector's participation in mainstream research. The Centre has allocated nearly Rs 50,000 crore for the fund, for five years, envisaging a framework for a coordinating agency to streamline research in science and technology. Congress has already raised concerns about the involvement of the private sector in this initiative. This bill is important considering research has been an important area of focus in the PM's foreign tours, including his recent one to the US where there were collaborations in the area of jet technology, quantum and semiconductor research. NRF is expected to reduce the gap in research funding between India and other countries such as China, Korea, and the US that invest significantly in R&D.

Crucial Bills on environment likely to come up

The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, is also likely to be tabled. The bill, prepared after a Joint Committee of Parliament submitted its report on the proposed amendments, aims to address the concerns of traditional Indian medicine practitioners, the seed industry and research organisations over the compliance burden in the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 by removing research and bio-survey activities from the purview of benefit-sharing requirements, and also decriminalises offences. It exempts registered AYUSH practitioners and people accessing codified traditional knowledge, from sharing benefits with local communities or giving prior intimation to state biodiversity boards before accessing biological resources. The proposed amendments have raised concerns among activists and environmentalists who have alleged that the bill only seeks to promote trade at the cost of conservation.

The Centre is also likely to take up the contentious Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 that some rights groups have criticised. The new law would exclude forest land within a distance of 100 km along India's international borders including the Line of Actual Control (LAC), from its ambit so that the land can be used by the government for national security projects, public roads and other strategic projects. It mainly seeks to redefine the reach of "non-forest purpose" exemptions under the Forest Conservation Act. The Congress had earlier opposed the decision to send the bill to a JPC instead of sending it to a standing committee on science and technology, environment, forests and climate change. 

Other Important Bills

An important bill, which looks at centralised data-keeping of birth and death numbers, and strengthening the civil registration system, is also likely to be introduced. This is important as the Census that was scheduled to happen two years ago has been delayed due to COVID-19 and the CRS data is important for policymaking in the social sector.

The other new bills include the Postal Services Bill, 2023 to stipulate fundamental matters on postal services, a bill to repeal the International Monetary Fund and Bank Act, 1945, another one to repeal the provisional collection of taxes, a bill to set up the national dental commission and the national nursing and midwifery commission, and also an important one to boost the cooperative sector.