Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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Syllabus: Parliament and State legislatures
The story so far:
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 was passed in Parliament recently. Introduced by Commerce and Industry Minister, the Bill aims at giving further boost to ease of living and ease of doing business. It proposes to amend 183 provisions to be decriminalised in 42 Central Acts administered by 19 Ministries/Departments.
What is the Jan Vishwas Bill about?
- The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 amends 42 laws, across multiple sectors, including agriculture, environment, and media and publication and health.
- The Bill converts several fines to penalties, meaning that court prosecution is not necessary to administer punishments.
- It also removes imprisonment as a punishment for many offences.
- Covered under the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 are changes in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Pharmacy Act, 1948.
- This has evoked heated debate about its pros and cons among health care activists, experts in the field of pharmacy and patient-welfare groups.
- Among these, the changes proposed to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 have been the most contentious.
- The Act regulates the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of drugs and cosmetics in the country.
Currently, the Act defines four categories of offences— adulterated drugs, spurious drugs, mislabelled drugs, and Not of Standard Quality drugs (NSQs) — and lays out degrees of punishment (a combination of prison time and fine) based on the degree of offence.
What are the pros and cons of the amendments?
The amendments have brought in sharp criticism from health activists. Prashant Reddy, lawyer and co-author of The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India, said that the Bill is detrimental to public health on two counts.
First, it allows manufacturers of Not of Standard Quality Drugs (NSQ) drugs to escape significant penalties despite the fact that these drugs can have an adverse effect on the patient.
