Ne

ws

lett

er

Maganwadi, Wardha-442001, Maharashtra Phone: 07152-253512 Fax: 240328 www.mgiri.org email: director.mgiri@gmail.com

Contents

‹ .... 2

‹ Editorial: Weaving a vision of man-machine system for khadi-sector: The weakest link in the chain is ‘Weaver’ .... 3

‹ .... 4

‹ Recent events / Forthcoming events .... 5

‹

.... 5

th‹ Report on the 5 meeting of the Executive Council .... 6

‹ MGIRI in news .... 8

Rural Craft & Engineering division of MGIRI

Tools and implements for khadi sector – report ofworkshop

Important recommendations of the consultative meetingon ‘Modification of existing tools and implements in khadi sector’

he hand loom is emerging as the weakest link in the Tchain of khadi processes. There is no weaver who desires that his children should take to the weaving profession.

When the concept of khadi cluster takes shape to realize the dream of 'kapas se kapada tak' (cotton to garments) it is imperative that sufficient number of weavers are available in each cluster. This massive HRD campaign can succeed only if a truly weaver-friendly and more productive loom is developed.

.... see page 3 and 4

M G I R IM G I R IMahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialisation

August 2010Vol 2, Issue 8

A National Institute under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Govt. of India

Rural Craft and Enginnering Division of MGIRI

Registration details:

Title: MGIRI Newsletter Editor: Dr T Karunakaran Printer: MGIRI, Wardha Periodicity: Monthly Publisher: Dr T Karunakaran Nr.: MAHBIL 05736 / 13-1-2009-TCLanguage: English / Hindi Place of publication: Wardha Post Regn. Nr.: WDA / 60 / 2010-12

www.mgiri.org 2

Operational objectives

R&D activities

Consultancy services offered

Training programs

Networking and promotional activities

To upgrade the skill, creativity & productivity of rural artisans and to provide science and technology support for value addition & quality improvement of their products by providing closer interaction with scientists, designers, technical and management experts to foster creativity, innovation, quality consciousness & ready marketability of products.

To provide support in the design and fabrication of prototypes and machines and in the development of new products.

To develop entrepreneurs among the educated rural youth through advanced scientific training in available rural craft practices.

?To develop tools and machineries suitable for optimization of different craft work methodology.?To create quality enhancement and quality guidance methods for different craft sector.?To disseminate technologies developed at MGIRI through modern methods of training including incubation and creation of sustainable model of technology / methodology of transfer to the artisans.

MGIRI provides services in ‘product design and technical development’ to craft products to become globally competetive.

Innovative designs & technical development training are given at MGIRI craft division in terracotta, metal crafts, wood & bamboo crafts, textile craft, leather craft etc.

Network with the artisans and craft related institutions like:?Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra - Labada, Suruchi ?Yantra Vidyalaya - Bardoli?Gramodaya Sangh - Bhadrawati?Kala Ashram - Adilabad?Magan Sangrahalaya - Wardha?Rashtriya Karigar Panchayat - Wardha?Kaasth Kala Uthan Samiti - Saharanpur?Gandhi Ashram - Saharanpur?Shanti Sadhana Ashram - Guwahati, Assam?International Bamboo & Ratten, (INBAR)?Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of

Textiles, Government of India?DRDA, Wardha for development and branding of

innovative rural craft products (‘Vardhini’)

MGIRI is also organising web based design support to craft artisans and promotional agencies.

Textile fashion bags developed at MGIRI

Lacquer turn wood craft products developed at MGIRI

Bell metal & brass craft products developed at MGIRI

Cane & bamboo craft products developed at MGIRI

Wood craft products developed at MGIRI

Leather craft products developed at MGIRI

Terracotta jewellery craft products developed at MGIRI

.... contd. on page 7

3 MGIRI Newsletter : August 2010

uppose we enable the ‘rural sector’ to be able to Sproduce a major portion of their food, shelter and clothing in their own neighborhood (of a cluster made of five to ten panchayats with a total population of about 50000) and also enable them to meet most of their service requirements like education, health, transport etc. then the employment needs of the region are mostly met and an approach to reverse the urban migration is at hand. The challenge is to create the proper technology package and a sustainable delivery system. Since the country is divided into ‘agro-climatic and geo-cultural zones’ the natural produces are not uniform- neither are the ethnic and craft talents. Therefore insisting that each micro-region of earth should produce all the needs of humans will mean inflicting violence on mother earth.

Thus cotton will be grown more in certain states and those states should have the maximum number of ‘cotton to garments’ cluster. MGIRI’s experiments during 2008-09 indicates that if we could adopt the ‘cotton to garments’ cluster approach even on a fraction of the harvest in a cotton-rich region like Vidarbha (notorious for farmer’s suicide) there could be dramatic consequences. For example: (i) the farmers could be enabled to achieve one or more levels of value addition to their produce and thus ensure profit to their agri-venture (ii) the SHGs, artisan’s guilds and local entrepreneurs could be engaged in the processes of value addition (iii) additional industries (for example: cotton seed-based oil mills) could be created in the region and (iv) cotton export could be made to other regions in the form of roving – while avoiding the energy-wise dissipative process of ‘pressing’.

Well, this dream is easily realizable if we could arrive at the community-scale machines for the entire chain and create trained human resources for each link of the chain of operations. During the mini-cluster experiment at MGIRI during 2008-09 all the operations (from ginning to the sale of garments) could be achieved within the neighborhood while for weaving the materials had to be sent to the neighboring district. The situation is no different in other regions of India. The weaving community is vanishing and there is perhaps no weaver who desires to have his children to become a weaver. We need to reflect on the situation.

Weaving is a profession needing a high degree of artistic skill normally acquired from the home environment from the

childhood itself. With the spread of education in the present day India this induction at the tender age is ruled out. Acquiring the skill at the adult stage needs a high level of motivation and exceptionally effective training. The profession of manual weaving faced with stiff competition from power loom sector and mill sector does not have the capacity to attract talents. The changed Textile Policy of 2000 intending to shift the least skilled weavers to the semi-automatic / power looms sector only makes things worse. The least skilled weaver when shitted to the power loom sector starts earning about 3 times more; and why should the skilled one continue to stay in the ‘power-less’ loom? Obviously he will also shift at the earliest.

The government policy related to ‘hank-yarn obligation’ places the loom sector at the mercy of the mills often pushing the weavers to suicide, as in Andhra Pradesh. The Khadi Mission’s decision, in its March 2010 meeting in Wardha, to link the yarn produced by solar charkha to the handloom sector leads to an innovative and sustainable solution fitting into the cluster philosophy.

That the manual looms are in its last phase of existence is indicated by an anecdote narrated by a top official of Tamilnadu (which is one of the six ‘handloom-rich’ states). The Tamilnadu Government, to help the nearly 6000 poor handloom weavers, planned to distribute free dhotis to millions of people. But the handloom sector could not manage to meet even 30% of this demand thus necessitating the remaining supply from the power-loom sector.

A very significant development is that the once mighty weaving mills can no longer compete with the power loom sector since the latter could be operated even in a small lean-to-shed attached to a house thus drastically reducing the overheads. In some sense the power loom sector has proved itself to be the ‘golden-mean’ between the handloom and the cloth mill. But how about the availability of the ‘power’ that operates the power loom?

It is clear that only those looms having low power requirement can survive. Such trends have already been observed in some of the weaving centres of Tamilnadu reeling under erratic power supply and inhibiting load shedding.

The looms need to be redesigned with a mélange of the most modern mechanisms and approaches minimizing muscular efforts to the minimum. It should preferably have a dual mode drive and should use solar power at least for its partial needs. It should be endowed with many add-ons to help as many varieties of woven designs as possible – but enabled through the electronics of today. A number of ideas like supplying ready-warp, elimination of middlemen through new generation cooperatives, web-based design support have to be implemented besides evolving a truly modern (and ‘intelligent’) design-friendly and weaver-friendly loom capable of increasing productivity by about four times.

The reader is invited to provide feedback on these and related issues covered in detail on pages 4 and 5.

– Editor

EDITORIAL: Weaving a vision of man-machine system for khadi-sector:The weakest link in the chain is ‘Weaver’

www.mgiri.org 4

National level consultative meeting on improvement in existing tools and implements in khadi sector (17-18 July 2010)

he consultation was motivated by the present condition of a cotton-rich region like Vidarbha which is reeling under Tfarmer’s suicide. By enabling the farmers to sell cotton only after ginning and to enable them to further carry-out the pre-spinning operations it was felt that they will never get into loss. Further by enabling the SHG Groups, artisan’s guilds and rural entrepreneurs to produce solar yarns and garments and other embellishments it was felt that the rural economy of the cotton

producing regions could be developed. The challenge is to enumerate the appropriate package of community-scale-technologies. The opinion of some of the participants are presented below:

Shri Bal Vijay ji: There are three types of technologies: (i) ‘maarak’ (replacing humans), (ii) ‘taarak’ (time saving) and (iii) ‘poorak’ (drudgery reducing). Obviously our effort should be towards a synthesis of technologies of the second and third type. The actual needs will be clear when we “go to the people and work with what people have” as Lao Tzu advises. Self sufficiency could only be a directive principle; healthy mutual dependence is equally meaningful. A new technology could be redeeming only if it is inspired by spirituality; to this extent ‘vigyan’ and ‘atmavigyan’ have to go together and their success is indicated by the confidence it is able to inject in the mind of the common man.

Shri Narendra Dubey: Textile is a complex economic sector involving composite mills, power loom sector, handloom sector and khadi sector. Though the khadi sector started with crude tools yielding crude products it did not hesitate to incorporate machines like the draw-frame from Manchester in its effort to increase productivity and quality. All processing should be organised in the cotton producing region itself so that transport could be avoided. To realise the full potential of a cluster the presence of weavers in every region is necessary. Besides this substantial improvement in the design of loom is also called for. A scenario of every region becoming self-sufficient in clothing is realisable since India has nearly 3000 varieties of cotton and ‘everywhere cotton could be grown’. (Ed: This point was contested by many speakers). Drudgery reduction should be a very important objective of S&T intervention. For example instead of the ring frame the ‘Mule’ model of spinning could be considered since it has the

potential of reducing drudgery. More attention should be given to improve the productivity of muga silk by at least four times. Similarly use of waste fibre and short fibre will make the khadi more competitive. We should also revisit the Gandhian vision of ‘Nava-sanskaran of khadi’ since it is a directive principle for making the khadi movement into a decentralised activity to achieve vastra-swavalamban at regional level, village level and even at family level.

Dr Vibha Gupta: An objective way of planning activities in the villages or outside will be to see that carbon footprint is reduced to the minimum.

Shri Manubhai Mehta: We, in the Gandhian circle, continue talking from our own ideological platforms. The society has its own thinking. When we were young we used to wear rough khadi. But now people are aware of many choices. In the name of self reliance suppose I start organizing everything in my village, including dyeing and bleaching, people may not like it. We certainly cannot thrust our economic philosophy on the society. On the other hand people have indicated that solar charkha is a welcome thing; reduction of scale of pre-spinning operations is also a welcome thing. All these lead to a decentralized scenario as conceptualized by Gandhiji – of course with as much of local independence as possible. Use of smaller machines energized by solar and other decentralized energy sources, as is done by MGIRI, is in keeping with the sustainable development philosophy. Similarly MGIRI’s proposed plan of web based delivery of designs etc. is also welcome.

Shri Nripen Biswas: Based on the past 25 year’s experience lot of things will have to be changed. We cannot anymore be sitting on ideological ivory towers. We have to look at the condition of the spinner. She is tired. Her crying need is livelihood-not your philosophy. If you can reduce the drudgery even old people can work. The solar charkha is a welcome development in this sense. For the kisan it is like a pension. When the decentralized model is implemented with the inclusion of ready-warp-beam the situation will become favorable to the artisans. Cluster approach should be our directive principle.

Dr T Karunakaran: Gandhiji’s concern (in the 1930’s) was that livelihood wages atleast at the rate of 8 annas per day is necessary. This was perhaps the motive behind his announcing a massive award of Rs 1 lakh for an improved charkha. This indeed is a challenge to the scientists working for khadi. MGIRI’s solar charkha appears to have the potential of enabling a khadi worker even to earn the minimum wage as per the government’s prescription. Going further we have to consider restructuring the machines relevant to all the four stages of pre-spinning, spinning, weaving and finishing so as to fit into a community-scale and a cluster framework guided by the philosophy of ‘man-machine systems’. Among the innumerable R&D challenges in this direction perhaps the most exciting and the most urgent will be the task of designing a weaver-friendly ‘intelligent’ loom which will at least partially be solar-powered and will have the capacity to challenge the power loom by virtue of the many ‘add-ons’ in it making it extremely design-friendly.

Armoured with such innovations the new generation of ‘khadi activists’ could once again brave into the khadi mission as a programme of rural economic re-construction instead of carrying on khadi merely as a ‘tradition’. Just as khadi was a symbol in the struggle for swaraj it could become a beacon for gramswaraj.

Dr T Karunakaran

Resolution continued on page 5 ....

Shri Narendra Dubey

Events Duration Organised by / Led by

Training on manufacturing of shampoo for SHGs and micro- enterprises

2–3 August Chemical Industries Division of MGIRI

Consultation on ‘power tools, micro-industries and artisans’ 4–5 August Energy and Infrastructure Division in collaboration with Craft & Engineering Division

Awareness programme on vegetable dyes lacquer turn wood craft for the young artisans from carpenter community

15–20 August Craft and Engineering Division in collaboration with Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti, Wardha

www.ruralhaat.com based e-marketing campaign among women SHGs of all talukas of Wardha

16–17 August Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal, Wardha

Technical session with Muslin artisans of Nabadwip Kutir Silpa Pratisthan, W.B.

17 August Muslin khadi project of KVIC

Workshop on durable soft finish technology for KVIC artisans and officers

31 August – 16 September

Khadi and Textile Division

Consultative meeting on innovative enterprise directions in Rural Chemical Industries

II week of September

Chemical Industries Division of MGIRI

5 MGIRI Newsletter : August 2010

Recent events

Mrs Pragati Gokhale, PSO, MGIRI presenting e-marketing through www.ruralhaat.com in the seminar of ‘unlocking women power’ at Nagpur

on 1-7-2010.

Inauguration on of the micro-enterprise (PMEGP) on soya-based-tofu of

Mr Ravindra Govindani who underwent MGIRI’s Short Incubation Programme (SIP).

24-7-2010 Mr Mahesh Kumar, SSO, MGIRI discussing (6-2010) on improving of productivity of woolen

cloth at Himachal Khadi Ashram, Krupalpur, Nalagad.

25-

Forthcoming events

Important recommendations of the consultative meeting on ‘Modification of existing tools and implements in khadi sector’

1. The search for technology needed for the Khadi sector should be guided by the dictates of Gram Swaraj and sustainable development. The technologies should not displace human beings but should help in productivity, quality and reduction of drudgery.

2. A decentralised approach should be the guiding principle for evolving of machines related to the various stages of cotton processing. While doing this the concept of carbon foot print should also be taken as a guiding principle. In the context of pre spinning processes the current approach of Khadi Commission’s CSP has to be replaced by community scale versions of ginning, blow room, carding, draw frame and speed frames – in such a way that they are compatible in capacity when cascaded and thus avoid idle capacities. Bale pressing as such is an avoidable step since even for taking out cotton to other regions the transport could be in the form of roving. However, the possibility of a soft pressing for local transport could be considered. The existing ginning machines should be studied and cost effective community scale version (for example with capacities of 50 to 100 kg per 8 hours) should be evolved taking note of the availability of single phase power and the need to separate the seeds – often for sowing. Roving making unit should be suitable for the above cluster. The post-ginning machines should preferably be suited also to wool and silk varieties.

3. Pre-spinning process for Muga and Endi silk has to be developed. Various blends of yarn can be made by mixing with polyester, viscose etc. This may be considered as a special issue.

4. Standardisation of Charkha with respect to tolerance, speed limits, materials, torque limits etc. is of prime importance so that it becomes user-friendly. The possibility of a mechanism which helps isolate the spindle in which breakage of yarn has occurred from the other spindles so that productivity loss could be minimized should be considered.

5. An economically viable humidifier should be developed to maintain the humidity of pre-spinning and spinning area.

6. The presently available semi automatic loom should be further improved making it weaver-friendly and design friendly by possible use of energy efficient mechanisms / alternate energy use. Productivity should be increased to 2-4 times by suitable blend of latest techniques in weaving.

7. Eco-friendly processes should be introduced for soft finishing and other processes so that khadi becomes user friendly in terms of durability, maintainability etc.

.... contd. from page 4

www.mgiri.org 6

thReport on the 5 meeting of the Executive Council

r Dinesh Rai, Chairman of Executive MCouncil of MGIRI and Secretary of the Ministry of MSME was in the Chair. This important meeting had Mr S Chatterjee, Consultant in the office of Prime Minister’s Principal Scientific Advisor and Dr S K Sharma representative of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy as special invitees. Out of the 20 agenda items the following three are highlighted since they may be of interest to the reader.

?The Executive Council deliberated on the p r o p o s a l t h a t e m e r g e d f r o m t h e

threpresentative of CSIR in the 4 meeting of General Council that MGIRI should serve as a bridge between the CSIR system and rural industries and resolved to work towards

development and technology dissemination.’ The EC also realizing it through appropriate mechanisms including the approved the necessary advisory and administrative ‘interface’ concept associated with the ‘hub and spokes’ structures. MGIRI’s proposed procedure for a fast-track model on which MGIRI is structured.mechanism for responding to the problems of rural industries through appropriate S&T intervention was also ?It was resolved that the following institutions that were approved. involved in major KVIC-sponsored projects under the

scheme of MGIRI-interfaces could, after fresh MoU, work ?The EC also approved the idea of Udyami Kendra directly with MGIRI as interface partners of MGIRI:(Advanced Facility Centre for the industries of the region) - IISc Bangalore - IIT Kanpurand specified the structure of a committee to draw up the - IIT Mumbai - IIT Roorkeerelevant rules and regulations. The same committee will - VNIT Nagpur - IIT Kharagpuralso look into the rules for franchising the innovative - NIT Rourkela - CTAE Udaipurproducts and machineries emerging from MGIRI and its - BITS Ranchi - NERIST Itanagarinterface partners. The Udyami Kendra will have the - IIT Guwahati - NIT Calicutfollowing units to start with:

- Advanced engineering work centre (AEWC)‘It was decided that relevant interested institutions from a - Craft innovation workstation - Design studiofew more categories could also be considered – for example - Incubation centre - Innovation centrefrom CSIR labs, institutions under TIFAC REACH-CORE, - Quality control & guidance centreUGC’s Centres of Excellence, national institutions of

specialized technologies, professional institutions like IIM, The CEO of KVIC and the Director of S&T of KVIC informed NID, NIFT, eminent engineering colleges with commitments that the mid-term results of the national level field trial of besides institutions willing to partner on the basis of projects MGIRI solar charkha indicated that it is a great success and funded by themselves and select renowned specialists who that the KVIC was considering ways of recognising the solar will serve as ‘one-man-institutions’ on very rare topics. yarn and further for going ahead with a pilot project. The Certain KVIC institutions could also serve as the ‘extended Secretary of the Ministry of MSME felt that this perhaps is a arm’ of MGIRI in its efforts of outreach. MGIRI’s turning point in the history of khadi.responsibilities will include: selection, coordination /

monitoring, fund channelization, problem bank

Dr Tapan ChakrabartiActing Director, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur

Dr S V Prabhath, IASChairman, National Council of Rural

Institutes, (Ministry of HRD), Hyderabad(Former DG of NIMSME, Hyderabad)

Welcome to the new members of the Executive Council

5th meeting of Executive Council

Dr Tapan Chakrabarti and Dr S V Prabhath were nominated to the Executive Council of MGIRI in the EC meeting on 2-7-2010.

77 MGIRI Newsletter : August 2010

Rural Craft and Enginnering Division of MGIRI .... contd from page 2

Workshop facilities at MGIRI

MGIRI’s North East initiative:

?well equipped workshop for design and fabrication of prototypes needed by various crafts. ?well equipped Digital Design Studio and Visual Lab for communication training.?a unique Artisan’s Complex to enable training artisans from different parts of India to come under one platform to exchange skills and knowledge.

?further development of MGIRI’s variable speed iron rim & tyre type potter’s wheel?to develop power tools for different crafts?development of effective processes for surface finishing of non-ferrous casted metal?development of natural color for terracotta products

Natural coloured terracotta jewellery developed at MGIRI:

The main objectives of MGIRI’s ‘North East initiative’ are as follows:

?To create opportunity for unemployed youth S&T based innovative entrepreneurial directions along with the necessary HRD guidance as part of a package of constructive programmes.?Empowering the traditional craftsmen and artisans to upgrade their skills and production methods in tune with modern imperatives by providing closer interaction with

Current development work

scientists, designers, technical and management experts to foster creativity, innovation, quality consciousness & ready marketability of products.?To indigenously develop and disseminate commercially viable technology packages by integrating traditional strength with modern methods to promote rural entrepreneurship at a large scale and in a sustainable way.

MGIRI is working towards a set of cluster projects so that the full commercial potential of the traditional wisdom of North East region could be realised. To this extent MGIRI is starting to create a special network of collaborating institutions so that the traditional crafts could be restructured into a network of micro-enterprises. In this effort it will also work with all the state governments of the region. The following are some of the recent examples:

MGIRI’s present involvement in North East at Sartebari Bell metal & brass cluster, Dist. Barpeta, Assam. Typical products developed at Sartebari are shown below:

MGIRI’s present involvement in North East at TRIBAC Cane & Bamboo cluster, KVIC–SFURTI, Narsingar Agartala, Tripura. Typical products developed at Narsingar, Agartala, Tripura are shown below:

MGIRI’s present involvement in North East at Morey, Chandel Dist., Manipur wood work cluster. Typical products developed at Morey, Manipur are shown below:

The core scientific team of Craft and Engg Division:

K Venkata Rao, DD +91-9665041123

T Dasgupta, PSO+919230544068

S P Mishra, SSO+919890357487

Edited and published by Dr T Karunakaran, Director, MGIRI, WardhaLayout and typesetting by Mr Arun Shanker

MGIRI IN NEWS

MAH BIL05736 / 13-1-2009-TC

www.mgiri.org

Postal Regn. Nr.: WDA/ 60/ 2010-12

BOOK POST

Postal Regn. Nr.: WDA/ 60/ 2010-12

If undelivered, please return to:MG Institute for Rural IndustrialisationMaganwadiWardha - 442 001, MaharashtraIndia

To

____________________

____________________

____________________

8

Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publicationsFriday, Jul 09, 2010

MGIRI Executive Council meet Our Bureau, New Delhi, July 8: Revival of 25 trails of charkhas by attaching solarising kits have produced encouraging results, said the Director of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialisation (MGIRI), Wardha, at the fifth meeting of the institute’s Executive Council on Wednesday. Revival of charkhas by attaching solarising kits enables a large number of spindles at a time, thus increasing productivity and enhancing the earnings of artisans.

Chaired by Mr Dinesh Rai, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the meeting also discussed further development of the interface with technical institutions to forge an effective network in the form of a hub and spoke model for MGIRI. Meanwhile, the Director also presented the draft annual report of the institute for 2009-10 as well as Action Plan for 2010-11. The institute has a dedicated team of scientists and is making significant contribution to the process of rural industrialization. It has already developed attractive designs for khadi and handicrafts as well as low cost packaging machine in the last year.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, as well as representative of Prime Minister’s Scientific Adviser.

BRILLIANT: The solar-powered charkhas at the Kandanur Village Cluster in Karaikudi of Sivaganga

districtMADURAI: Solar energy is now being utilised to power the dream of Mahatma Gandhi. A pilot project to test-run five solar-powered charkhas (spinning wheels) at Kandanur Khadi cluster in Karaikudi has turned out to be successful with the unit recording marked improvement in both qualitative and quantitative aspects.

The unit was among the few chosen nation-wide by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to conduct test runs, K. Krishnaswamy, Director, KVIC Madurai Division, told The Hindu here on Friday. The unit was designed by Wardha-based Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialisation. Personnel from the institute inspected the unit 10 days back.“We have sent a report to the KVIC head office stating that the working of the unit has been satisfactory. If the nation-wide test results prove successful, the Centre might consider replicating the pilot project on a large scale,” he said. The equipment used a solar photovoltaic panel to generate electricity which is transmitted to the battery that powered the charkha. “While spinning with the hands, a person can produce no more than 25 hanks (one hank is 1,000 metres) of cotton and earn upto Rs. 40. The solar-powered unit is capable of producing 60 to 70 hanks, enabling the weaver to earn upto Rs. 120 a day,” he said.http://www.hinduonnet.com/2010/07/24/stories/2010072459000300.html

A pilot project using solar powered charkhas has spun a tale of success

R. SairamSolar energy powers Gandhi's vision