Sonu wants to become a social worker and fight for those children who have no one else to fight for them. She also dreams of the day when she will earn enough to be able to help her parents economically and stop their endless fights.

But Sonu was not always like this. When she joined Bal Panchayat at the age of 13 in 1998, Sonu was too scared to even talk in front of outsiders. Born in a large family with five brothers and sisters, this daughter of Attar Singh and Kiran Devi learnt to keep her views to herself. Her father a quality checker in a private firm earned just enough to keep his family fed. Used to constant bickering over money, Sonu lacked the confidence to take a stand or voice her opinion. She rarely shouldered any responsibility and was quite irresponsible towards her family. She had no future aspirations and would study only under duress.

After joining Bal Panchayat Sonu underwent a dramatic change. Through gradual counseling by facilitators and interaction with other children, Sonu opened up to her own feelings. She started responding to the discussions held at the meetings and began voicing and formulating her own opinions. She began thinking of her future and realized that she could make a better life for herself. She also began to appreciate her responsibility towards her family and community and began paying attention to her studies.

Today she is a staunch advocate of gender equality and urges her brothers and sisters to study hard. She is convinced that her future lies in working with other children. And she is determined to make her dream come true.

At fifteen, Ramesh Sharma personified the typical angry young careless adolescent. Today, at eighteen, he is a mature young individual who believes that life should be lived for others. A surprising change in a boy who knew himself to be a thoughtless recluse. It is a change that Ramesh credits to his involvement with Bal Panchayat.

Ramesh lives in the slums of Sangam Vihar. A large shantytown, Sangam Vihar is an unauthorized colony in New Delhi, the capital of India. Home to over one lac populace, it boasts of people from various communities and castes living amongst paltry conditions. People, who would live elsewhere if they could, but can't, for lack of resources. Ramesh belongs to one such family. His father Ram Bilas Sharma is a driver and his mother a housewife. He has one brother who studies in class twelfth and a sister who studies in class ninth. Ramesh is the oldest and is currently pursuing his graduation degree.

Born in a poor family with a family income of barely xxxxxxxRs a month, Ramesh was a selfish, thoughtless adolescent. As he says, "I had little regard for others and was only concerned with myself. I did not pay attention to my studies and would remain aloof from others". In 1997 he joined Casp Plan's Bal Panchayat program. Though initially he joined the program out of curiosity, he soon became deeply involved with it. With his involvement, he began to change. He turned from a recluse to an outgoing social person full of confidence and energy. He became determined to help others and would go out of his way to do so. In fact, he was the elected president of the Bal Panchayat program for almost two and a half years. He was removed from his post for some misdeeds in between. But he soon rallied back, corrected his mistakes and at eighteen when he left Bal Panchayat, he left as the outgoing President.

Today Ramesh says that he would like to become a social worker. He credits the most important changes in his life to Bal Panchayat and says that his maturity as a person is the most important thing that Bal Panchayat has given him. It has made him thoughtful, patient and a caring individual who believes in his ability to change his and others lives.

Hemlata's thirst for knowledge is unquenchable. That probably explains why she wants to be a journalist. Only fifteen years old, she is surprisingly mature for her age. As you speak to her, you get the impression of a very sensible head on those young shoulders. She surprises you with her awareness regarding child labor, environmental issues and other topics. Surprising indeed, especially in a girl who lives in slums.

Hemlata belongs to a large family. She has five siblings and they all live under one roof in the confined environs of their house in the Sangam Vihar slums. Her father, Mangat Singh Rawat is a peon in a private firm and earns barely enough to keep his family warm and fed. Her mother, Makhuli Devi is a housewife. A student of class twelfth, Hemlata is a staunch advocate of Casp Plan's Bal Panchayat program. She believes that Bal Panchayat has changed and molded her like nothing else could have.

When Hemlata joined the Bal Panchayat program in1998, she was a skeptical, hesitant young girl. She felt victimized by her poverty and life seemed terrible to her. She considered education unimportant and could not appreciate the various levels of education. However, after joining Bal Panchayat, she slowly began to understand the importance of education. She came to realize that life is what one made of it and there exist many children in this world who are in a far worse condition than her. She started paying attention to her studies, became thoughtful of others, and participated in the various discussions and programs organized by Bal Panchayat.

Through interaction with facilitators, other children and Casp Plan staff, she slowly emerged out of her shell. Today, she is a confident young girl who managed to convince her mother on the merits of birth registration. She who staunchly fights against child related issues like child labor, child abuse, gender discrimination etc. and offers hard facts uncovered by her research work. She has become more demanding than ever of the standards she sets for herself and assures you that one day there will be a national policy for child rights. And going by the determination in her eyes, you can be sure that she will not rest until it is so.

Dharamveer was fifteen when he joined Casp Plan Delhi's Bal Panchayat program. Today, at seventeen, he heads his own Bal Panchayat program in Mathura and is bringing about dramatic changes in the lives of children there.

Dharamveer lived in Govindpuri slums with his parents and five siblings. When he joined Bal Panchayat he was a rowdy child who was forever getting into fights. He would rarely listen to his parents and was generally found loitering the streets.

After joining Bal Panchayat, Dharamveer began to realize his foolhardy ways and slowly started changing. Initially, he found it difficult to adjust and was dismembered from the program by other children. However, after many counseling sessions with the facilitators and through interaction with other children, he was able to change his ways. He credits his entire success to the Bal Panchayat program.

Dharamveer had always dreamed of spreading the Bal Panchayat program far and wide so as to help children elsewhere also. Thus, when he moved to Mathura to find a job, he decided to initiate a Bal Panchayat there. He met the local children and began educating them about child rights. He grouped them and identified community problems like garbage, drug abuse, child labor etc. He went from home to home to interact with children and parents and raise their awareness levels. He spoke to children about the importance of education and convinced many of them to rejoin school.

Today, his Bal Panchayat movement boasts of thirty-five members. They have together collected and donated Rs. 200.00 for the Gujarat Earthquake victims and organized awareness rallies on birth registration, child rights and against child labor. Dharamveer has turned his dream into a reality.

Pravesh knows the going will be tough. But she is determined to make it as an Army officer and serve her country.

A fifteen-year-old commerce student, Pravesh is the eldest child of Prahlad and Shanti Sharma. Her father is a Pressman and the only earning member of the family. Her mother is a housewife. Together with her parents and two siblings, Pravesh lives in the slums of Sangam Vihar. A class eleventh student, Pravesh is quite vocal about her rights and duties. She is confident about her future and feels life has many good things in store for her.

But this was not the case three years back. When Pravesh joined Casp Plan's Bal Panchayat program in 1998, she was a reticent, uncertain girl. She could not imagine ever standing in front of a crowd and expressing her views to them. She found it difficult to interact with her family members and did not pay much attention to her studies. She believed that life and success would be very easy to find.

However, in Bal Panchayat, Pravesh found a platform through which she slowly changed. She metamorphosed from a hesitant uncertain girl into a confident young person. She began interacting better with her family and her relationship with her mother improved dramatically. She also began paying attention to her studies and slowly attempted to correct her mistakes. Her biggest lesson was in realizing that to be successful, one had to work hard. And that is exactly what she is doing today. In fact, she was one of the members selected to attend the Mangalore workshop on child rights, which was attended by children from all over the country, where she proved herself to be a successful orator.

An impressive change indeed in a girl who found it difficult to interact even with her family members.