India's second wave of decriminalising minor offences, as reflected in the passage of Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill last week, builds on the gains from the first round to improve ease of doing business.
Replacing jail terms with fines for small infractions reduces the compliance burden on businesses while unclogging the judicial pipeline. There is a case to be made that freeing up capacity for productive activity improves both economic output and governance.
India's experience bears out the theoretical underpinnings of a considerable overhaul of laws that can be as reformative as any big-ticket item of economic liberalisation.
As the PM has reiterated, there's a need for India to contemporise its body of laws, parts of which go back a couple of centuries and have fallen out of step with requirements of a modern economy. A rapidly growing economy like India's needs simple, effective and enforceable legislation. It must provide an effective regulatory environment for the new economy, and having a large overhang of unnecessary laws slows business.
NDA has been consistent in its efforts to deliver more governance with less government. Rationalising its legislative archives is a core requirement in this endeavour.
Market forces work best in a lightly regulated environment. Since the economic liberalisation of the 1990s, large chunks of the economy have been deregulated, and the economy has been posting high rates of growth despite external shocks.
Structurally, the economy has gained strength despite an unfinished economic reforms agenda. Decriminalisation across a wide array of laws does not run into the moral hazard of amnesty schemes that tend to penalise good behaviour. It merely adjusts the deterrence yardsticks for them to be more relevant.
This makes it an obvious area of reform for governments serious about placing the economy on a higher growth trajectory. Paperwork aside, decriminalisation is a win-win situation for administrators and administered. Improved outcomes should now follow.
Keep them going, GoI.
Replacing jail terms with fines for small infractions reduces the compliance burden on businesses while unclogging the judicial pipeline. There is a case to be made that freeing up capacity for productive activity improves both economic output and governance.
India's experience bears out the theoretical underpinnings of a considerable overhaul of laws that can be as reformative as any big-ticket item of economic liberalisation.
As the PM has reiterated, there's a need for India to contemporise its body of laws, parts of which go back a couple of centuries and have fallen out of step with requirements of a modern economy. A rapidly growing economy like India's needs simple, effective and enforceable legislation. It must provide an effective regulatory environment for the new economy, and having a large overhang of unnecessary laws slows business.
NDA has been consistent in its efforts to deliver more governance with less government. Rationalising its legislative archives is a core requirement in this endeavour.
Market forces work best in a lightly regulated environment. Since the economic liberalisation of the 1990s, large chunks of the economy have been deregulated, and the economy has been posting high rates of growth despite external shocks.
Structurally, the economy has gained strength despite an unfinished economic reforms agenda. Decriminalisation across a wide array of laws does not run into the moral hazard of amnesty schemes that tend to penalise good behaviour. It merely adjusts the deterrence yardsticks for them to be more relevant.
This makes it an obvious area of reform for governments serious about placing the economy on a higher growth trajectory. Paperwork aside, decriminalisation is a win-win situation for administrators and administered. Improved outcomes should now follow.
Keep them going, GoI.
