Solar charkha for spinning yarn Gandhiji Version 2.0 Charkha which was popularized by the Father of The Nation Mahatma Gandhi is all set to become environment-friendly with a new avatar - 'solar charkha version 2.0'. It will reduce the effort and increase the earning. "Solar charkha involves elaborate phases before its launch. The purpose behind developing solar charkha was to keep khadi spinning environment friendly as well as easy. In remote and rural areas of the country, where uninterrupted electricity is a distant dream, solar charkhas will help boost the income of the weavers in far-flung areas. "Once the solar charkha spinning technology is improvised, it can help flourish the traditional spinning into an industry without involving human drudgery." It would also provide employment to more men at rural level and will improve their earnings manifold, further adding that the quality of the yarn will also be improved and uniform by the use of solar charkha. Presently, only one person can work on a hand driven charkha at a time but one or more than one solar-powered charkhas can be handled by a single person, he informed. In this way solar charkha will increase the efficiency of a person and will also increase the productivity to meet the increasing demand of khadi. Conventional wheels hold 3-8 spindles of khadi, which produces 25 hanks of yarn in eight hours. Solar-powered spinning wheels can hold 36 spindles to produce 100 hanks in the same. 8 Spindle Amber Charkha Scheme • Cost of Charkha is Rs. 12000 to Rs 95000 /- • Daily production of 25-40 hanks/ 8 hours working everyday • Rs. 80-90 remuneration everyday/per spinner • New unit, 25 Charkha per unit for approved organization • One month training expenditure (scholarship, raw material, instructor's remuneration etc. Rs.10500/-)