My association with Sri Vasudeva Sharma and Child Rights Trust started during my stint as Director, Women and Child Development department. His principles, knowledge and commitment towards child welfare always shone through in his work. The publications brought out by his team on issues like child rights, child marriage, child and the law, child rights gram sabha, various manuals  are commendable. Later when I moved to Panchayat Raj, through a MoU with CRT, model makkala gramasabhas were taken up in around 60 Gram Panchayats and this initiative provided various insights into the issues affecting children and how GPs can effectively intervene in solving many of the issues. Vasudeva Sharma always has an empowering perspective in all issues and this has made his work stand out among other organisations in the same space. The slogan that children are today’s citizens echo in all his initiatives and that has motivated government officials at the field level to introspect and modify their thinking and action. At this juncture when Vasudev ji is celebrating a milestone birthday, I wish that he and the CRT team can continue their stellar work with more vigour in coming days.