Srinagar, Dec. 20 -- As the Kashmir Valley shivers through yet another winter of routine power cuts-temperatures plunging well below freezing, homes slipping into darkness for hours each day-the Jammu and Kashmir government has turned back to a long-abandoned idea: lignite.

More than three decades after militancy forced exploration to stop, officials have resumed drilling at the Nicha Hama lignite deposits in Kupwara. Mohammad Yaseen Bhat, senior geologist at the J&K Geology and Mining Department, told Mint that detailed drilling is now under way to assess both the quantity and quality of lignite and determine possible end use.

The move reopens an old question with new urgency: can a rare indigenous baseload fuel ease the Valley's chron...