NEW DELHI: Authorities’s coverage assume tank Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam on Friday weaved examples – from Amitabh Bacchan’s iconic movie ‘Deewar’ and the detention of a pickpocket – to push for full decriminalization of 12 offenses below the Revenue Tax Act and resolving them by means of civil and financial penalties.“If you need a pickpocket and he’s given life imprisonment, is that the end result you need? Does it enhance that pickpocket from not doing any extra pickpocketing, it solely turns into a burden on the govt. for the remainder of his life. Does it deter different pickpockets?” Subrahamanyam mentioned through the launch of a working paper which backs decriminalization of some offenses below the Revenue Tax Act and requires shifting in the direction of belief based mostly governance and compliance tradition. “If the rationale for pickpocketing is one thing else and never it may very well be one thing all of us keep in mind… Amitabh Bachchan and ‘Deewar’ for a loaf of bread…,” Subhramanyam mentioned whereas recalling the scene from the 1975 blockbuster. The paper highlights that whereas the 2025 Act omits a number of archaic offences, it continues to criminalise 35 actions and omissions throughout 13 provisions, most of which prescribe necessary imprisonment. Making use of a jurisprudence-based evaluation, the examine recommends a decriminalization roadmap and backed eradicating imprisonment for minor procedural defaults, limiting prison sanctions to instances involving fraud. or willful evasion, and enhancing the position of civil and administrative penalties.