Question

The Pharmacy Act was passed in the year

• A. 1945
• B. 1948
• C. 1947
• D. 1951

Hint:

The Pharmacy Act of 1948 is a critical law that governs the practice and education of pharmacists in India.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

The Pharmacy Act regulates the profession of pharmacy (registration of pharmacists, Pharmacy Councils), distinct from the Drugs Act, 1940 which regulates drug manufacture and sale.
1945 is pre-independence and doesn't fit this post-independence professional-regulation law; 1947 is the year of independence itself, before this specific Act; 1951 is too late, after the Act was already in force.
The Pharmacy Act was passed in 1948, shortly after independence, to formally regulate the pharmacy profession.
So the answer is 1948.

Answer 2

Think of this in terms of India's sequence of drug/pharmacy legislation, rather than memorising an isolated date.

1. 1945: Before independence; India's major drug-related law at that stage was the pre-existing Drugs Act (1940), not the Pharmacy Act.
2. 1948: The year immediately following independence saw the introduction of the Pharmacy Act to regulate pharmacists and pharmacy education, filling the gap left by the Drugs Act which only covered drugs, not the profession.
3. 1947: The year of independence itself, dominated by the transition of governance; the Pharmacy Act came the following year.
4. 1951: By this time the Pharmacy Act had already been in force for a few years, so this date is too late to be its year of passage.

Placing the Act within this broader legislative sequence confirms it was passed just after independence, not before it or years later.

Therefore, the correct answer is 1948.