BJP leader Captain Brijesh Chowta stated, “Pleased to welcome our Fin Min Smt @nsitharaman on her arrival in Mangaluru this evening. She will deliver the Nitte Vinaya Hegde Oration 2026 on ‘Viksit Bharat – Vision for 2047’ on April 28, 2026, at 3:30 p.m. at K.S. Hegde Auditorium, Deralakatte, Mangalore.”

The Nitte Vinaya Hegde Oration is a prestigious annual lecture series established to honour the leadership and contributions of the late Justice K.S. Hegde. According to NITTE, the series aims to assemble distinguished national leaders, policymakers, and public intellectuals to discuss contemporary issues of national importance.

The programme will be presided over by Justice N. Santosh Hegde, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and former Lokayukta of Karnataka. Attendees will include Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader, Captain Brijesh Chowta, Nitte University Chancellor Vishal Hegde, Pro-Chancellor Dr M. Shantharam Shetty, and Vice-Chancellor M.S. Moodithaya.

Earlier, on April 23, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a high-level meeting with Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, Scheduled Commercial Banks, and key stakeholders. The meeting focused on assessing the potential impact of emerging threats related to developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, with particular attention to the risk of misuse to weaponise software vulnerabilities.

The Finance Ministry reported on its X account that Sitharaman urged all banks to implement all necessary pre-emptive measures to secure their IT systems, safeguard customer data, and protect monetary resources. She commended the efforts of banks in strengthening cybersecurity systems and protocols so far.

However, she emphasised that the nature of the emerging threat from the latest AI model is unprecedented and requires heightened vigilance, preparedness, and improved coordination across financial institutions and banks. The Finance Minister advised the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to develop a coordinated institutional mechanism to respond swiftly and effectively to any such threats.