Setting up of a Solar Charkha Cluster
Setting up of a Solar Charkha Cluster. Yarn, Fabric & Garments Production using Solar Charkha & Solar Looms. Solar Charkha Spinning, Weaving, Processing and Garments
Khadi is handspun, hand-woven natural fiber cloth mainly made out of cotton. The cloth is woven from cotton and may also include silk, or wool, which are all spun into yarn charkha. It is a versatile fabric, cool in summer and warm in winter. In order to improve the look, khādī/khaddar is sometimes starched to give it a stiffer feel. It is widely accepted in fashion circles.
Khadi is an indigenously made fabric which is mainly known as khadi is made out of cotton but it can be silk or wool as well. All these natural staple or fibres are spun by hat-charkha or solar charkha.
Khadi fabric has it’s own character, texture and slubs enhance the beauty of khadi fabric. Khadi is suitable for all kind weather of India. It has good perspiration absorbing quality so it doesn’t cause body sweat odor. Western consumer taking interest in khadi fabric.
India’s ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to promote the use of solar ‘charkhas’ (looms) in the moribund khadi (loom-woven fabric) cottage industry augurs well. The move will not only make khadi a zero-carbon footprint fabric by eliminating the use of electricity during production, it will also generate employment for thousands of poor artisans and bolster productivity through modern technology.
Ministry’s other plans to popularize solar looms are providing employment to over 50 million women by giving them the new machines over the next 10 years. “The measure will dramatically augment khadi’s share in the Indian textile industry from the present 1.4%. Though solar charkhas have sporadically and experimentally been in use across India, this is the first concerted push by the government to introduce them on a mega scale with private and public participation. Field trials of solarised charkhas in Khanwa village of Nawada district in the eastern state of Bihar have been encouraging.
These charkhas have the potential to be a force multiplier for the economy. They can boost productivity and augment artisans’ incomes. Conventional wheels hold three to eight spindles of khadi and can only produce 25 hanks of yarn in eight hours. Solar-powered spinning wheels with up to 36 spindles can crank out 100 hanks in the same time.
Benefits of Solar Charkha
- Easy spinning, person with disability or any age or women can do spinning with household work
- Uniform count, strong yarn as like as mills spun yarn
- Flawless and constant spinning that means more production and more income to artisans.
- No side effects on artisan or environment.
Yarn from a solar charkha are stronger compared to the manually operated charkha. In fact yarns of desired strength could be achieved by proper choice of the drive. Yarn are more uniform compared to a manually operated. This is because of the incorporation of a battery which helps to give uniform power even in the variable climatic conditions.
Yarns are nearly free from knots. This is because of the absence of jolts and jerks in the charkha which are there when a human being cranks it throwing more or less a significant fraction of the body weight on it Thus resulting in fewer breakage of yarn, less down-time and greater productivity.
Production of yarn through solar charkha activities can easily be undertaken in the rural areas by the Khadi institutions and entrepreneurs. The yarn produced out of solar charkhas will be converted into cloth using the weaving implements available with the weavers and subsequent processing for dyeing, finishing etc. The units will utilize the garmenting capacity available in the vicinity to convert the cloth into readymade particularly shirts etc.
Solar powered charkha also saves electricity. Khadi, a ‘green’ fabric, consumes lesser water as opposed to other fabrics during production. The move to switch to solar charkha makes the Khadi industry a shining example of a sustainable, employment generating, eco-friendly industry.
The solar charkha not only relieves the person working on it from the drudgery but also increases the earnings by both improving the output and quality of the thread. At a time, one person can work only on one charkha in the conventional hand driven equipment. But since the new version is solar- powered, one person can simultaneously handle or work more than one machine enhancing the earnings further.
The number of sales outlets for Khadi products has been increased to 1,060 in the last four years, he said adding exhibitions were organised in 50 countries on October 2 to create demand for such products.
The use of khadi products saw huge demands from young shoppers as well. Since khadi cloth is handspun and the end products are created mainly by artisans in rural areas, it is said that the brand invokes good vibes in consumers, especially millennial shoppers.
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