On 10 December 2025, Amod Shah defended his PhD thesis entitled 'Coal, Livelihoods and Climate Politics: The contested terrain of anti-coal struggles in India'.
During his defence, Shah gave a detailed elaboration of how the political dynamics of local movements against coal extraction interact with wider rural transformations in mining-affected regions and the political economy of contemporary coal extraction in India.
He showed that the socially differentiated impacts of mining on affected households’ livelihoods and reproduction need not undermine possibilities for meaningful opposition.
Rewatch Amod's defence introduction
Photos of the defence
Take a look at a selection of photos taken during the defence.
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