Jan Vishwas (Amendment) Bill gets Lok Sabha nod: ‘It was Colonial thought to punish everything’

“Generally people do not want to break laws. Small mistakes should be addressed differently … In the Indian tradition, rule was based on trust and not suspicion. It was British thought that continued post-Independence, wherein everything was to be punished rather than improved,” Goyal said. He said the Bill is a graded response where people get a chance to improve, and builds a culture of trust.

Goyal said many laws were made under previous governments without thinking of the troubles they caused to people. He said while in most laws the court determined the fines, the Bill prescribes a penalty and avoids unnecessary burden on the courts. As an example, he said that the Bill would impose penalties on drug manufacturers if they have not mentioned where it was produced and not on retailers.

BJP MP Tejaswi Surya, who had headed the Select Committee of Lok Sabha on the matter, accused Congress governments of having been against entrepreneurs and wealth creators. He commended the Bill for decriminalising many offences.

RSP MP N K Premchandran said that bringing blanket am­endments to address mult­iple laws was a bad legislative practice adding that since each law had a different context, it should be addressed independently. He cautioned that speaking about the ease and speed of doing business should not end up in policies that are anti-labour.

DMK MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy said since most insta­nces of decriminalisation in the Bill pertained to economic offences, it seemed to be aimed at making corporations get away without paying penalties, and this would mean they would not be answerable.

Vikas Pathak is deputy associate editor with The Indian Express and writes on national politics. He has over 17 years of experience, and has worked earlier with The Hindustan Times and The Hindu, among other publications. He has covered the national BJP, some key central ministries and Parliament for years, and has covered the 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and many state assembly polls. He has interviewed many Union ministers and Chief Ministers. Vikas has taught as a full-time faculty member at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; Symbiosis International University, Pune; Jio Institute, Navi Mumbai; and as a guest professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. Vikas has authored a book, Contesting Nationalisms: Hinduism, Secularism and Untouchability in Colonial Punjab (Primus, 2018), which has been widely reviewed by top academic journals and leading newspapers. He did his PhD, M Phil and MA from JNU, New Delhi, was Student of the Year (2005-06) at ACJ and gold medalist from University Rajasthan College in Jaipur in graduation. He has been invited to top academic institutions like JNU, St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and IIT Delhi as a guest speaker/panellist. ... Read More

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd