** Urgent need to address shortage of 4.3 million nurses in India: Experts

“India has over 3 million registered nurses & midwives who are responsible for the country’s 1.3 billion population, which is grossly inadequate. This is less than the WHO norm of 3 nurses per 1,000 population and India needs to add more than 4.3 million nurses by 2024 to meet the prescribed WHO norms,” the Forum said in a statement.

Speaking during the discussion, Dr T Dileep Kumar, president, Indian Nursing Council, highlighted the need for nursing leadership and making nurses part of policy making.

** IIT (ISM) Innovation hub develops lac scrapping machine

IIT (ISM)’s innovation hub – Atal Community Innovation Center (ACIC), has taken into account the difficulties faced by lac growers in manually scraping lac from sticlac. They have developed a lac scrapping machine

Talking to The Telegraph Online, Amit Shukla, Chief Executive Officer ACIC  at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad said “Jharkhand produces almost half of the total quantity of lac produced in India. Jharkhand’s share makes India the world’s top lac producer.”

** Chanel appoints Unilever executive Leena Nair as CEO

According to the reports, Ms. Nair, in her new position with the French luxury group Chanel, will be based in London.

Leena Nair, the first female and youngest-ever Chief Human Resources Officer of Anglo-Dutch FMCG major Unilever has stepped down to join French luxury group Chanel as its Global Chief Executive.

She was a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), which is responsible for delivering Unilever’s business and financial performance.

* Columbia Journalism School alumni award for The Hindu Group chairperson Malini Parthasarathy

Dr. Parthasarathy, who was in the class of 1982, had earlier served separate stints as the editor and executive editor of The Hindu.

The Columbia Journalism School on Tuesday named The Hindu Group chairperson Malini Parthasarathy as one of its alumni award recipients for 2022.

* Lone survivor of chopper crash, Group Captain Varun Singh succumbs to injuries

In August, he was conferred Shaurya Chakra, India’s third-highest peacetime gallantry award, for exceptional gallantry as a Wing Commander in October 2020 when he was posted with a Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) squadron.

Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the Mi-17 helicopter crash in which Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat and 12 others were killed last week, succumbed to his injuries early on December 15, the Indian Air Force has said.

* DFRL’s ready-to-eat menu for Gaganyaan mission

The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) in Mysuru has prepared a slew of ready-to-eat dishes tailor-made for India’s space programme Gaganyaan.

The DFRL has prepared about 40 to 50 menus comprising both vegetarian and non-vegetarian items and the trials are in the preliminary stages.