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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Dwarves in south India unite to fight job discrimination India, Sept 3 (AFP) - Fed up with being put down, the Small Men Association in the southern Indian state of Kerala has formed to fight job discrimination. Balakrishnan Karassery, the newly-elected vice president of the group which was formed last month with 100 members, said they would ask the state government to list them as orthopaedically handicapped thereby entitling them to reservations in jobs, free bus rides and other facilities. "We are a neglected lot and (are) discriminated (against)," said Karassery, a 30-year-old man who weighs 26 kilograms (57 pounds) and is 90 centimetres (36 inches) tall. "We are treated like kids everywhere. We are big enough to say what we want. We are going to fight for (our) rights," Karassery, who works as a manager in a saw mill and earns 80 dollars a month, said at the weekend in Ernakulam, 222 kilometers (137 miles) north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The cutoff for the Small Men Association is 135 centimetres (54 inches), Karassery said. According to members of the association, the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh earlier this year included dwarves in a list of handicapped citizens which gave them preference for government jobs and access to other benefits."We make people laugh but nobody thinks about our sad fate. Earlier, we were getting opportunities to work in the circus but that industry has collapsed and most of us are out of a job," said Mubash, who like many Indians uses only one name. "Most of us are poor and have no means of living. We can't do all the jobs but the government is not giving us financial support or reservations," added group member Mujibur Rahman. A state legislator said the law defining a handicapped person in Kerala would have to be changed for the dwarves to qualify. "Many of us are very talented. We want to show the public that we don't want their sympathy," said Radhakrishnan Ajaykumar, a postgraduate and a successful film artist who has performed in India and overseas. "Only those persons who have above 40 percent deformity are entitled to get benefits or reservations. The government has to enact a law to include dwarves in the list," said P.T. Thomas, a local lawmaker. In 1999, the Tall Men of Kerala, measuring six-feet (1.82 metres) and above, formed their own association and today have 600 members. |
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