Namita Tewari

Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Dec 9 (PTI) Emphasising that India’s sovereignty depends on mastering the resources beneath its soil, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on Tuesday said the nation must chart its own development path at a time when global alliances are increasingly fracturing.

Delivering the keynote address at the 100th foundation day celebrations of the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Adani said nations across the globe were acting in pure self-interest, and India must master the energy systems that fuel its growth.

"India's sovereignty in the 21st century will depend on a nation's command over its natural resources and its energy systems. India must chart its own development course in a world increasingly marked by national self-preservation and fractured global alliances," he added.

He said when Bakhtiyar Khilji burned Nalanda, his aim was not just to destroy structures or set manuscripts on fire. "His true target was our civilisational confidence, our knowledge systems and our ability to think independently, free from foreign influence. And we should never forget this, because a civilisation that forgets how it was broken, forgets how to rise," he said.

"Centuries later, when the British arrived in a Bharat already weakened, they did not burn knowledge — they replaced it. They engineered an education system designed to produce clerks, not thinkers, and in doing so, erased the stories, wisdom, and imagination that once united Bharat," he added.

In contrast, Adani said, "India does not sell dreams — it transforms dreams into reality." Adani cautioned against what he termed "narrative colonisation", saying countries that historically emitted the most carbon now wished to prescribe how India should develop, despite India having one of the world’s lowest per-capita emissions.

He said the country must not allow external pressures to delegitimise its aspirations and described the current era as India’s "second freedom struggle", one for economic and resource independence.

Adani asserted that India must do what is best for itself — define its own development path, resist external pressures, and build sovereign capabilities in resources, energy and technology.

"If we do not control our own narrative, our aspirations will be delegitimised and our right to improve our standard of living portrayed as a global offence," he said.

Citing global data, Adani said India remains one of the world’s lowest per-capita emitters even after achieving more than 50 per cent non-fossil installed power capacity ahead of schedule.

Attempts to downgrade India’s sustainability performance without considering per-capita metrics or historical responsibility reflect biases embedded in global ESG frameworks, he said.

Referring to the Adani Group’s Carmichael coal mine in Australia, he said the project was built to strengthen India’s energy security despite facing "one of the most contested environmental and political battles of the century." "When we went to Australia, it was not that Bharat lacked coal. What Bharat lacked was quality coal. The Carmichael mine was born out of this necessity to substitute our local coal with better-grade imported coal. But little did we know that our Carmichael mine would become one of the most contested energy projects of this century," he said.

"Global environmental lobbies mobilised against us. Protests were staged across continents, banks withdrew lending across businesses — we were vilified in the international media, debated in foreign parliaments and dragged through courtrooms...You may be resisted, you may be ridiculed… they may write headlines, but we will write history," Adani said.

Adani noted that IIT (ISM) Dhanbad itself was born from a moment of national foresight.

Over a century ago, the Indian National Congress, even under British rule, had recommended establishing the institution to develop India’s capabilities in mining and geology. This, he said, reflected a deep civilisational understanding that a nation cannot rise without mastering the strength of its own soil.

Adani also announced 50 annual paid internships for third-year students of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and the setting up of an Adani 3S Mining Excellence Centre at the institute.

"People may call mining the old economy," he said, adding, "But without it, there is no new economy." He urged students to "dream fearlessly, act relentlessly," embrace innovation and help build a confident, self-reliant India by becoming "custodians of the core" who build India's sovereign capabilities.

Adani, 62, is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, India's largest integrated infrastructure group.

The group's businesses include a world-class transport logistics business, an integrated energy infrastructure portfolio that spans generation, transmission and distribution, natural resources, airports, defence and aerospace, among others.

Adani Group founder Gautam Adani is a first-generation entrepreneur to lead a business group to a market capitalisation of over USD 200 billion. PTI NAM MNB