Solar Charkha Mission

The workings of the Solar Charkha Mission was recently discussed by the Union Minister for MSME in the Lok Sabha.

About the Mission

The Solar Charkha Mission was launched in 2018 by the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. It is being implemented by the KVIC or Khadi and Village Industries Commission. Based on the success of a 2016 pilot project, 50 clusters were set up with a budget of 550 crore INR.

Solar Charkha

The solar charkhas are powered by solar cells. The use of renewable energy by these devices makes the mission environmentally sustainable. Each unit will have 2 charkha and each charkha has 10 spindles. The unit can produce 2kg of yarn per day. This would result in production of 2 tonnes of yarn from the 2,000 charkhas.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of the scheme includes spinners, weavers, stitchers and other skilled artisans. In the 50 clusters set up by the government, each cluster will have up to 2,000 such beneficiaries. Of this, at least 10% of the clusters are to be set up in the north-eastern region, J&K and other hilly states.