The Public Trust (Amendment) Bill 2025 will be introduced in the Lok Sabha, which aims to eliminate the provision of punishment for minor crimes. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will introduce it, which proposes amendments in more than 350 provisions. This move will create a favorable environment for business.

The Public Trust (Amendment) Bill, 2025 (2.0), which seeks to eliminate the provision of punishment in some minor crimes with the aim of making life and business easier, will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. Through this bill, amendments are proposed in more than 350 provisions.

The move will help create a more business-friendly and citizen-centric environment in the country. The bill is part of the government's effort to improve the country's business environment. According to the agenda of the lower house published on the Lok Sabha website, the Commerce and Industry Minister will introduce the Public Trust (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025.

183 provisions were decriminalized

Its objective is to amend certain rules to rationalize and abolish the provision of punishment in minor crimes to further improve trust-based governance to make life and business easier. Earlier, the Public Trust (Amendment of Provisions) Act was passed in 2023. Under this, 183 provisions of 42 central acts administered by 19 ministries and departments were decriminalized.

Decriminalization means decriminalizing an act, so that the act does not attract a criminal penalty, but the act may still remain illegal or unlawful. However, through this Act, the government removed imprisonment and/or fines in some provisions. In some rules, imprisonment was removed and fines were retained, while in some cases imprisonment and fines were changed to punishments.

PM Modi had given indications

• It is noteworthy that in his speech on Independence Day on 15 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, 'There are laws in our country which, though surprising to hear, provide for jail sentences even for small things. No one ever paid attention to them.' He said, 'I have taken the initiative to ensure that such unnecessary laws, which put Indian citizens in jail, are abolished. We had introduced a bill in Parliament earlier also; we have brought it again this time.'
• The government has already eliminated more than 40,000 unnecessary compliances (rules, laws, or following the prescribed procedures). It has also repealed more than 1,500 obsolete laws. Modi said, "We have amended dozens of laws in Parliament to simplify them and have always kept the public interest paramount."

PC:Jagran