24th Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture
On 20 August 2025 | 12:00 PM - 02:30 PM IST
The annual Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture series was initiated by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in 2002 in the memory of the institute's visionary founder and noted technocrat-industrialist, Mr Darbari S. Seth.
Under his guidance, TERI emerged as one of the leading knowledge institutions in the field of sustainability and climate change. The annual lecture stands as TERI’s flagship event, celebrating Mr Seth’s enduring commitment to action-oriented research and his belief that informed, collaborative efforts are key to building a sustainable future for India and the world.
Over the years, the Memorial Lecture has featured distinguished speakers from across the globe, including Nobel Laureates, heads of international institutions, and eminent scientists and policy leaders. Their insights have helped catalyse dialogue and action on climate resilience, clean energy transitions, resource security, and environmental stewardship. The event also serves as a moment of reflection and rededication to TERI’s founding principles of knowledge-driven, people-centric development.
The theme for this year’s lecture is “Green Infrastructure: Building a Sustainable Transport Future for India”. The event is scheduled to take place on 20 August 2025, from 12:00 PM – 2:30 PM at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
The 24th Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Mr Ashish Khanna, Director General, International Solar Alliance (ISA).
The Presidential Address will be delivered by Shri Nitin Gadkari,Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India.
*Entry by invite only
Speakers
Mr Ashish Khanna Director General, International Solar Alliance (ISA)
Mr Ashish Khanna has over 26 years of experience leading energy sector development in the private and public sectors in more than fifteen developing countries in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. He has unique experience working in the solar sector across the entire value chain, ranging from project conceptualisation to resource mobilisation, financing, bid process management, and project implementation.
As the former Head of the World Bank’s West and Central Africa Program, he led the Mission 300 for energy access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. He has also worked as the Program Leader in the Middle East and North Africa, leading the program that enabled private sector investment of USD 20 billion in the energy sector for the first time in Egypt. In India, as the Lead Energy Specialist at the World Bank, he worked with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy on policy and regulatory reforms to enable private sector engagement in solar. Born and raised in India, he has experienced first-hand the basic human need for energy access and the constraints of developing countries in achieving the same. He believes that the success of the International Solar Alliance requires a strengthened organisation with the right skills and accountability framework to earn the respect and trust of countries and their agencies in designing and implementing solar pathways for energy access and transition.
Shri Nitin Gadkari Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India
Shri Nitin Gadkari has made it his mission to promote a transport fuel that is indigenous, cost-effective, pollution-free, and a substitute for imports. Under his guidance, the city of Nagpur was the first city to explore alternative biofuels for transportation including bio-CNG, bio-ethanol and LNG. He is also introducing flex fuel engines to be run on 100% ethanol, and launched a first ever tractor run on bi-CNG, thus providing additional income to farmers and the agricultural sector. He also emphasized on adoption of Green Hydrogen as a clean and indigenous source of energy across various industries and mobility sectors.
Under his supervision, over 91,287 kms of National Highways have been constructed in the last 7 years and 30,0000 kms of new roads are being constructed currently. Twenty-two world class access-controlled Greenfield expressway projects being led by him under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-1, are presently in various stages of construction. He is the man behind marvelous engineering showcases like Bandra-Worli Sea Link, 55 flyovers in Mumbai, India‘s First Mumbai-Pune Expressway, 14-lane Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Nagpur’s multi-layer metro rail cum flyover system and upcoming high-tech Delhi-Mumbai expressway.
Shri Gadkari introduced the first ever Vehicle Scrappage Policy which proved to be the fight against pollution in the interest of Road and Vehicle safety. New FASTAG policy is helping commuters to save their fuel and time on toll plazas. Some of his major work includes unprecedented push for R&D in electric vehicles for developing alternative battery chemistries such as Sodium ion and Aluminium ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. With a waste to wealth policy, he is promoting the use of new, advanced and recycled waste materials into road construction works. For fast and economical construction, He has mandated large scale use of prefabricated precast concrete elements in the highways projects. He is encouraging tree plantation along the highways, installation of solar panels, rain water harvesting and artificial groundwater recharge systems. Shri Gadkari is committed for the development of qualitative, time-bound, cost effective and sustainable world-class infrastructures in the country.