India, Aug. 14 -- Nine surrendered women Maoists, who once wore green fatigues and moved through the dense forests of Bastar, walked the ramp with beaming smiles at an event here showcasing traditional handloom and Kosa silk dresses of Chhattisgarh.

The women, eight of them from Sukma and one from Bijapur, appeared at a state-level weavers' conference on National Handloom Day on August 7.

For 22-year-old Punem Jyoti of Elmagunda village in Sukma's Chintagufa area, the moment was something she had never imagined.

"I had never imagined that something like this would happen in my life," said Jyoti, who surrendered in Hyderabad in December last year.

Speaking in a mix of Hindi and the local Gondi dialect, she said her life has changed sig...