Deep in an Indian forest, activist Alok Shukla greets friendly faces among a small band of protesters sitting in the way of plans to turn the surrounding wilderness into coal mines. Shukla has led a decade-long grassroots campaign against some of India's conglomerates -- including one operated by Adani Group, helmed by Asia's second-richest man -- seeking to tap one of the country's richest subterranean stores of fossil fuels. The movement had a major triumph in 2021 when, bowing to its demands, the government established an elephant reserve in a 445,000-acre (around 180,000-hectare) swath of the threatened Hasdeo Aranya forest, an area bigger than the size of London. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES ARRANGED IN SEQUENCES