 Concern about child labour has always been a part of India's social and national consciousness. However, being complex and multifaceted, child labour has proved to be a pervasive problem, inherent in the cycle of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. It is estimated that almost 6% of the total child population of India falls under the category of child labour. Over the last two decades, India has made great progress in implementing measures which benefit children. The government is now taking a committed and uncompromising stand to combat child labour in the country. Behind this massive effort are ministries, departments and agencies of the union government, concerned departments of the state governments and union territories, international agencies and non-governmental organisations. India is a permanent, founding and non-elective member of ILO. Six out of 20 ILO conventions have been ratified. In fact, in 1992, India was the first signatory to the international programme for elimination of child labour, better known as IPEC. Since then, 150 programmes have been implemented under IPEC, benefiting close to 200,000 children. India's judiciary has played an important role in the battle against child labour. In the 1980s, the Supreme Court facilitated a more dynamic, multi-dimensional use of the legal process by opening the courts to public interest litigations. This made it easier for individuals or groups to move the courts on behalf of the poor. Across India, efforts are on to break the vicious cycle of illiteracy, poverty and unemployment. For this, the Government of India has initiated various schemes for employment generation, training of youth and development of women and children at the national level. In addition, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or the Education for All Drive, has been launched to ensure the right of free access, retention and participation of all children up to the age of 14 in formal schooling in keeping with the article 45 of the Indian Constitution. The national child labour policy adopted in 1987 marked a paradigm shift in the approach of the Government towards combating child labour. The policy laid specific stress on general development programmes alongside creating a constitutional and legislative action plan. But the most important component of the policy is the NCLPs or National Child Labour Projects. Camps such as this one for girls operating out of an abandoned poultry farm house children through the summer months. Children come from neighbouring villages to attend the camps which prepare them for regular schooling through specially designed bridge courses. In one year, he will be holding an engineering diploma, the first one to do so from a population of more than 300,000. About 10 years ago, Atmaram was weaving carpets for less than $5 a month. His world changed when Krita volunteers convinced his parents to send him to one of the bridge schools and eventually to regular school. In central India, the state government started the Education Guarantee Scheme in the year 1996. The state government pledged to provide a school within a distance of one kilometre for every child in the rural areas within a period of 90 days. In less than a decade, the literacy level in the state has increased by almost 20%. Scheme such as the Education Guarantee Scheme clearly highlight the importance of community participation in the successful implementation of government initiatives. And this is reflected in the fact that the government's policies have created a great deal of awareness and sparked of social change even in the remotest corners of India.