Parliament has passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, commonly referred to as Jan Vishwas 2.0, in a major push for Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living. The Bill amends a total of 784 provisions across 79 Central Acts administered by 23 Ministries. Of these, 717 provisions have been decriminalised by replacing imprisonment with civil penalties, improvement notices or adjudication, while 67 have been amended to facilitate ease of living for citizens. The legislation builds on the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023, which had already decriminalised 183 provisions in 42 Central Acts. Key mechanisms include replacing imprisonment with civil penalties, for example the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, where certain contraventions earlier punishable by jail now attract a civil penalty of one lakh rupees or three times the value of goods confiscated. Improvement notices under laws such as the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 allow businesses a specific time to rectify non-compliance before any penal action. The Bill also provides for appointment of adjudicating officers who conduct inquiries and appellate authorities to hear appeals against penalty orders. The Commerce and Industry Ministry has positioned Jan Vishwas 2.0 as a fundamental shift from punitive enforcement to a trust based compliance philosophy that recognises most technical violations occur without criminal intent. The reform is expected to reduce litigation, cut regulatory cholesterol and unlock entrepreneurship, particularly for MSMEs which bear a disproportionate compliance burden.