Health Ministry Proposes Curbs on Prescription Drug Advertising

The correct answer is the Drugs Rules, 1945. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has proposed an amendment to these rules so that the requirement of prior Central Government sanction for advertising drugs listed in Schedule H, Schedule H1 and Schedule X extends to entities licensed to sell and distribute medicines, and not only to manufacturers. The vehicle is a new sub-rule inserted under Rule 65. Option B names a different legal instrument concerned with objectionable advertisements of remedies, which is not what the ministry has moved to change here. Option C deals with food and not with medicines, and is administered by a separate regulator. Option D concerns the registration and standards of clinical establishments, again outside the subject of drug advertisements. The point to carry is that schedules H, H1 and X sit inside the Drugs Rules of 1945.

The correct answer is G.S.R. 861(E) dated 28 September 2026. The ministry notified the draft amendment through that notification after consulting the Drugs Technical Advisory Board, and it has invited objections and suggestions from stakeholders and from the public within thirty days of the date on which copies of the Gazette carrying the draft rules are made available. Options A, C and D carry invented numbers and dates that appear nowhere in the announcement, and option C also uses the wrong series, since subordinate legislation of this kind is issued as a General Statutory Rule rather than a Statutory Order. For the examination, pair three details together: the notification number, the date of 28 September 2026 and the consultation with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board that preceded it.

The correct answer is the 93rd meeting, held on 16 February 2026. That sitting of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board took up the question of whether the rules needed an express provision covering advertisements issued by firms holding licences to sell and distribute medicines, and the draft amendment follows its recommendation. The board was also consulted before the draft was notified in the Gazette. Options A, B and D name meeting numbers and dates that do not appear in the announcement, and all three would place the recommendation either too early or after the notification itself, which was issued on 28 September 2026. Candidates should remember the chain of events in order, namely the board's recommendation in February, the Gazette notification in September and the public comment window of thirty days that follows.