What is the Jan Vishwas Bill, 2023 proposed by Centre?

General Studies Paper 3

Context

The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 was passed in Parliament recently.

The Jan Vishwas Bill

• Introduced by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, the Bill aims at giving further boost to ease of living and ease of doing business.
• 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.

The pros and cons of the amendments

• The amendments have brought in sharp criticism from health activists.
• 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.
• For example, drugs that lack the adequate active ingredient or fail to dissolve will not cure the disease it is meant to and that will result in a poor treatment outcome for the patient.
• Second, the Bill also reduces penalties for owners of pharmacies who violate the terms of their licence.
• The Indian pharmaceutical sector, manufacturing and pharmacies included, are already subject to extremely lax regulation as evidenced by the explosion of scandals recently across the world linked to ‘Made in India’ medicine.
• The government should be tightening the regulatory screws, not giving the industry a literal “get out of jail” pass.

Way forward

• The laws shouldn’t become a cost-to-operation component for companies but should install in them the greater sensibilities and responsibilities towards the society.
• India is the pharmacy of the world and we have to work towards ensuring that the best medicines are provided while reasonable benefits are offered to business.
• Rationalising laws, eliminating barriers and bolstering growth of businesses are important.