Patna, July 23: Just 180 days — and may be a handful more — are what 13-year-old Pramod Tiwari took to turn a Maoist.

Until last week, Pramod was the leader of the child wing (Bal Sangathan) of the CPI (Maoist). The teenager, whose home is in Sonav village in Kaimur district, on the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border, surrendered with firearms along with eight other hardcore Maoists, two of them “area commanders”, before the Rohtas police.

The Telegraph spoke to the “commander” of the child wing just before he was forwarded to judicial custody on July 12.

Eldest of three siblings of Mahendra Tiwari, Pramod said he joined the organisation about one-and-a-half-years ago. “I was picked up by some Maoists from the Gupta Dham (Alampur) temple where I had gone with one Tyagi Baba. I was taken deep into the forests and introduced to other children of my age,” he said.

There, Pramod said, he was imparted training in jungle warfare, making bombs and landmines. The training lasted three months and at the end of it, the boy was adept at using assault rifles such as AK-47s. “Soon I was appointed leader of the group. The people in my native village used to call me Nakhru. But in the organisation, I was given a different name,” he said.

Hailing from a lower middle class family, Pramod’s parents could not afford sending him to school. “I kept moving from one forest to another, one village to another, after joining the organisation. But now I want to study,” he said.

The family would now get financial assistance from the government.

Rohtas superintendent of police Manu Maharaj said Pramod was involved in an encounter with the police in Chutia on March 16. “The Maoists engaged the police in a fierce gunbattle when the force was returning after a combing operation in the forests along the Bihar-UP border,” he said.

Pramod gave specific information about the Chutia operation. “The boy also disclosed the assignment given to him by his masters in the operation,” Maharaj said, adding that for the teen-aged Maoists, taking part in an operation was a “thrilling experience”.

The children inducted in the child wing of the CPI (Maoist) are imparted training on the pattern of the police. “Pramod is adept in handling sophisticated weapons like AK-47 and AK-56 rifles and laying landmines. For him, a .303 rifle, which is mainly allotted to police personnel, is like a toy,” he said.

Pramod said the Maoists have formed squads comprising children in the age group of 6-16 years in Naxalite-hit areas. Initially the squad members were used for passing on information about every new entrant in the Naxalite-dominated jungle.

The squad members are primarily assigned to maintain surveillance on the movement of security personnel as well as police informers in tribal-dominated villages. Dressed in school uniform, these children act as informers. At times they can be spotted herding cattle and collecting wood to avoid detection by the police.

Pramod said the Bal Sangathan is the lowest in the ranks of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), the armed operations squad of the CPI (Maoist). The children are all trained in carrying out different tasks. “There is a defined role for children of every age group in the organisation,” he said, adding that child wings were active only in the villages considered to be their strongholds.

The new entrants in the Bal Sangathan are first used as spies and couriers. They roam around in the neighbouring villages collecting information about meetings organised by local politicians. Apart from that, they are trained in basic drills and armed with .303 rifles, he said.

Teenage boys move around with guns, bows and arrows. Children above the age of 12 are deployed as fighters to engage in hostilities against the security forces, to make and plant landmines and bombs, to gather intelligence and for sentry duty.

After attaining the age of 16, the squad members deemed physically fit are absorbed in the PLGA. From there, they are sent to branches such as the communication or the military intelligence wings called the People’s Security Services.

Rigorous physical training combined with learning the art of survival in the jungle is given prime importance. Learning how to scare away wild animals, for which the entire Kaimur plateau is known, are also necessary for survival. They are also trained on how to build temporary shelters and survive during combing operations.

While some of these children joined the outfit to fight police brutalities, others did so out of pressure that if they don't join, their families would be eliminated. In tribal-dominated areas, every family has been asked to send one child to the Maoist group.

Pramod’s family members are happy over his surrender. “We had no information about Pramod. We tried to locate him but in vain,” said his mother Rinki Devi. She was not aware of her eldest son’s surrender before the police.

His father Mahendra Tiwari has gone to Faridabad in search of a job. His younger brother Amod, who studies in Class IV at a local government school, and his younger sister, said: “Hum log bhaiya ko bahut dino se nahi dekhe hai (We have not seen our brother for a long time).”

They can meet their brother but only in jail, that too twice a month under the prison manual.