On demonetization short term effects: Psychosocial risks in tea garden workers

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

In November 2016, the government of India declared 86%of the total money in circulation as demonetized. This policy was brought into effect overnight, and it had great macro socioeconomic impact not only on the economy of the country but on the common people, especially the socioeconomically challenged. While several researchers have focused on, and continue to investigate, the effects of demonetization on the economy, its impact on the psychosocial health of workers has not yet been studied.

OBJECTIVE:

To provide an exploratory investigation of the psychosocial consequences of demonetization on the workers in Indian tea gardens.

METHODS:

A qualitative research approach was employed. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with seven key informants (clinicians and executives/managers), and 36 tea garden workers were involved in six focus groups. Collected data were analyzed using the Template Analysis technique.

RESULTS:

From the data analysis, five main themes emerged concerning the psychosocial factors involved in demonetization effects: socioeconomic changes, organizational consequences, workplace interpersonal relationships, work-family interface, and psychophysical symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS:

This preliminary study highlighted the significant impact that demonetization had on tea gardens at both the organizational and individual levels.

Keywords

Demonetization risk factors tea garden India tea pluckers

1 Introduction

The health and well-being of workers and their families, as well as their working and living conditions, are crucial for economic growth, increased productivity, and social stability [1]. For the last four decades, it has also been acknowledged that sudden organizational changes due to economic reforms may affect the mental and physical health of workers, causing increased unemployment rates [2 –4]. Economic turmoil can impact the pace of organizational change and restructuring, causing stressful work environment [5 –7]; thus, workers can increasingly experience reduced work opportunities, job insecurity, unemployment, and decreased financial stability, which can have serious consequences for their mental health and well-being [1 , 8–13].

On 8 November 2016, the government of India, in a bid to address the issue of macro socioeconomic corruption and the hoarding of currency notes—often referred to as “black money” or illegal/undeclared money—declared 500 INR (approximately 6.7 EUR) and 1,000 INR (approximately 13.3 EUR) denomination notes as demonetized, amounting to 86%of total currency being withdrawn from circulation. This demonetization was also known as notebandi. The government asked citizens to deposit the demonetized currency notes into banks for conversion to monetized currency, subject to restrictions of amount and transaction limits, by the end of the year [14]. This enactment created a void in cash flow—a sudden cash crunch [15, 16]—as a consequence of which the owners of tea gardens could not disburse weekly or fortnightly wages to tea garden workers, as other agricultural workers received [17, 18]. Thus, tea garden workers who did not have bank accounts felt compelled to open bank accounts immediately as per mandate, to receive disbursement of payments in compliance with the new system.

In rural West Bengal, especially in the foothills of the Himalayas where these tea gardens are located, there are a limited number of banks due to the terrain and topography, limited accessibility, and adverse climatic conditions, compounded by the lack of digital telemetry services. The ratio of physical banks to local population size is quite low, which became a real concern for depositors and stakeholders regarding the exchange of demonetized currency. Other contributing factors were the limited cash reserves in these banks, which hindered the progress of currency note exchange; the limited time and endurance of the stakeholders to implement the new policy formats; and the inadequate attention paid by policy-makers to the potential endangerment of lives, especially of the socioeconomically challenged members of population—in this case, the workers who pluck tea leaves known as tea pluckers.

As such, it is expected that an economic reform of such a scale and nature as demonetization may have had a substantial impact on the psychosocial health of workers whose wages are paid in cash. While several researchers and observers have focused on, and continue to investigate, the effects of demonetization on the Indian economy, the issue of the psychosocial health of workers has not been studied [19].

2 Background

In India, the tea industry is one of the most labor-intensive sectors, contributing significantly to the Indian economy, and also escalating foreign earnings [20 –24].

There are 283 registered tea gardens in the Northeastern region of India, employing about 300,000 people and comprising a major economic activity [25]. In terms of wage distribution, tea plantations are unique. Wages are partially governed by the Payment of Wages Act of 1936, wherein almost all of these wages are paid in cash. A tea garden worker usually earns around 122 INR (approximately 1.73 EUR) per day, on the condition that s/he plucks a minimum amount of tea leaves each day. This abysmally low wage, considerably lower than the wages for migrant and other casual laborers, puts tea garden workers into a life of extreme economic hardship and vulnerability [26, 27]. Due to their low wages, to supplement their livelihoods, workers regularly take out money on loan from moneylenders in the tea gardens [28 –30] known as Mahajans, Kabuliwalas, or Madrasis in the local languages. The interest rates are very high, and thus paying off debt money becomes virtually impossible for the workers. This debt cycle is vicious, and most workers are already trapped in it.

Healthcare in tea gardens is also questionable, given the inadequacy of health care infrastructure and of primary and secondary health care institutions. Under the Plantation Act of 1951, workers are entitled to obtain all necessary medical care from their employers, but in actuality there is hardly any health service provision [21, 29].

Workers are dependent on the managers of the tea gardens to sustain them. Managers take care of the workers economically, mentally, and socially. They are the persons solely responsible for taking care of wages, as well as non-wage necessities such as workers’ daily nutrition, housing, and health care, sponsored by the owners of the tea gardens.

In the tea gardens of West Bengal, 50–70%of the tea plucking workforce consists of women, who do not have any special rights or privileges [21 , 30]. Women tea pluckers are among the most victimized and marginalized populations in India [22 , 31].

They have dual roles at both work and home, taking on many responsibilities. Many of their husbands are jobless, suffer from chronic alcoholism and related illness, and do not take any responsibility for children’s education, family members’ health, or even the daily provision of food. In this context, the women workers become the sole breadwinners of the family and are grossly affected by economic changes, especially when demonetization was introduced. [24 , 32–34].

3 Methodology

The current study was carried out in the West Bengal districts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar from April 2017 to August 2017. It covered three tea garden work sites and involved 43 workers from a range of professional categories including clinicians, executives/managers, tea pluckers, and tea garden workers with tasks other than picking tea leaves.

Qualitative data collection techniques were used, consisting of semi-structured interviews and focus groups, which were all audio-recorded with prior signed informed consent from participants. The interviews lasted from 30 to 40 minutes and the focus groups from 60 to 75 minutes, and all were conducted in the local languages, Hindi and Bengali. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine.

3.1 Participants

For purposes of this study, one tea garden from Jalpaiguri and two tea gardens from Alipurduar were selected. The participants of interviews were chosen for their key roles in the work sites: executives/managers for their in-depth knowledge of the working environment and clinicians for their involvement in aspects of the tea garden workers’ health and well-being. The focus group participants were selected with the site managers, who helped to identify suitable interviewees and to arrange the groups.

All focus groups and interviews were conducted in tea garden locations. All participants were given a full study information sheet, and signed informed consent was collected (12 participants used thumb impressions rather than a written signature due to inability to write). The interviews were digitally audio-recorded and transcribed in full.

3.2 Data collection and techniques

The qualitative research techniques employed in the present study were interviews and focus groups. The latter were chosen because by gathering peer workers together, they allow the creation of a more open and friendly setting where participants might express and discuss their opinions, without feeling “judged” or “evaluated” by their supervisors. For this reason, supervisors and clinicians were not involved in the focus groups. Their experiences were collected with a different tool: face-to-face interviews.

Interviews and focus groups had a semi-structured form and were carried out using several broad questions, such as “Would you please tell me about the demonetization/notebandi?”, “Can you share the immediate response after the 8^th of November?”, “How did you feel during the very first week?”, “Can you share the response after one month?”, and “Have you any idea of why demonetization was done? What was the purpose for this economic change?”. The questions that followed were more focused on exploring one of the major objectives of this research. These questions included the following: “What were the changes made after demonetization in terms of wage collection?”, “During post-demonetization, how was your experience regarding the banking system and ATM (Automated Teller Machines) service?”, “Can you tell me about what kind of changes were made in your daily life after demonetization?”, “How did you feel after work hours/at home?”, “How often did you feel any discomfort in your body?”, and “Do you connect those symptoms to demonetization?”. For the managers, the questions pertained to subjects such as “Can you tell me about the history of occupational accidents?” and “Can you tell me about absenteeism after demonetization?”. For the clinicians, specific questions concerning the health system were asked, such as “What is the existing health service system in your garden to address mental health?”. At the end of each session, space was left for the participants to add any information they wanted to share.

3.3 Procedure and data analysis

All transcripts were analyzed using Template Analysis, a method which offers a systematic app-roach to construct the thematical categorization using a priori themes for the initial version of the coding template [35]. This method is a suitable approach for organizing and analyzing the data in a more flexible way where themes are associated with the participants’ perception and experience [36, 37]. To ensure accuracy of the transcription, the recording was checked twice. All transcripts were read thoroughly, allowing the researcher to become more familiar with the data. A preliminary coding of the data was defined by reviewing the first three focus groups. Some broad a priori themes were identified. Dominant themes with meaningful clusters of sub-themes were organized under the broader theme and grouped according to a hierarchy. This process provided an initial version of the template that was then applied to the other transcripts. As new codes and themes emerged, it was necessary to modify and reorganize the existing template, retitling and eliminating some themes. This iterative process was carried out until all transcripts were exhausted, leading to the development of the final coding framework. At the end of the process, no substantial sections of the data remained uncoded. The template was applied to all transcripts after the definition of the final version [38, 39].

4 Results

The sample consisted of 43 participants, of which 4 were executives/managers (all males, mean age = 40 years, SD = 2.51), 3 clinicians (all males, mean age = 43 years, SD = 2), 28 tea garden workers (8 males, mean age = 30, SD = 5.15; 20 females, mean age = 32.6, SD = 6.98), and 8 tea workers with other tasks besides tea plucking (all males, mean age = 41.9 years, SD = 2.79).

The final template consisted of five main themes (first-order codes): socioeconomic effects, organi-zational consequences, workplace interpersonal relationships, work–family interface, and psychophysical symptoms. Additionally, 17 categories (second-order codes) were identified as hierarchically linked to the macro-categories (see Table 1). For the “work–home interface” category, a third-order code was created to explore in-depth the effects of the stressful working situation on the domestic environment. The main findings are presented below, supported by verbatim extracts (participants are identified with codes made of numbers and acronyms * ).

Table 1
Note. A priori themes are shown in capital letters; a posteriori categories and subcategories are shown in italics

Final template

1. SOCIOECONOMIC EFFECTS

a) Wage distribution problems

b) Managers’ critical issues

c) Most-affected workers

d) Reactions to change

2. ORGANIZATIONAL CONSEQUENCES

a) Absenteeism

b) Intention to leave

c) Resignation

d) Reduction in productivity

3. WORKPLACE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

a) Peer-to-peer relationships

b) Relationships with managers

4. WORK-FAMILY INTERFACE

a) Relationship with partner

a1) Domestic violence

b) Relationship with children

5. PSYCHOPHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

a) Sleeping disorders

b) Malnutrition

c) Stress and anxiety

d) Blood pressure variations and dizziness

e) Lack of confidence

Final template
1. SOCIOECONOMIC EFFECTS
	a) Wage distribution problems
	b) Managers’ critical issues
	c) Most-affected workers
	d) Reactions to change
2. ORGANIZATIONAL CONSEQUENCES
	a) Absenteeism
	b) Intention to leave
	c) Resignation
	d) Reduction in productivity
3. WORKPLACE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
	a) Peer-to-peer relationships
	b) Relationships with managers
4. WORK-FAMILY INTERFACE
	a) Relationship with partner
	a1) Domestic violence
	b) Relationship with children
5. PSYCHOPHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
	a) Sleeping disorders
	b) Malnutrition
	c) Stress and anxiety
	d) Blood pressure variations and dizziness
	e) Lack of confidence

4.1 Socioeconomic effects

In the tea gardens, workers previously received wages weekly, fortnightly, and monthly. Post-demonetization, there was total stoppage of both the weekly wage (known as kharcha) and the fortnightly wage, as tea garden management had no cash on hand. According to the mandated policy of the demonetization, to accommodate the new system, workers needed to have a bank account to receive the disbursement of their wages; as a consequence, some workers were more disadvantaged than others due to having neither a bank account nor the documents necessary to open a bank account. Reactions to demonetization varied from initial surprise to helplessness on the part of tea workers and cluelessness on the part of managers regarding how to handle wage disbursement.

a) Wage distribution problems. Adopting the new wage distribution procedures (in compliance with the demonetization mandate) made self-sustaining more difficult for the workers. Managers of tea gardens revealed how difficult it was to arrange money for tea pluckers’ salaries, since after demonetization there was an upper limit placed on withdrawal amounts from bank accounts. As for the tea pluckers, they began standing in queues to open new bank accounts and faced a number of new problems. Firstly, there was an acute shortage of manpower in banks to do the paperwork for opening the new accounts. Additionally, there was a scarcity of new currency to meet the demand. Some significant observations are quoted below:

“Many workers from this garden do not know how to sign. They could not do the paperwork for opening a bank account. They ended up with miserable consequences.” [TGW10]

“It was too problematic, as we reside in the tea garden. We only have the cash money that we get as our wage.” [TGW18]

“There was a smaller bank branch with an insufficient amount of money. We spent many days in the bank, both to provide fingerprints for the opening of new accounts and for the withdrawal of money. In order to get one payment, we spent a minimum of 3–4 days in the bank, losing our daily wages.” [TGW4]

b) Managers’ critical issues. Managers, not just tea pluckers, faced the problem of insecurity, as they were solely responsible for the care of all wage and non-wage necessities for workers. They had to adopt alternative arrangements for the provision of wages, regardless of difficulty. The payment of wages was not regular, and there were months of unpaid salaries. Managers of tea gardens revealed how difficult it was to provide the large amounts of money for the tea pluckers, since in the first week of the demonetization, the banks’ maximum withdrawal limit was far lower than the amount that was necessary. Managers could not even arrange to provide the kharcha, the small amount of money for the workers at the end of the week. One manager reported how he tried to save on other expenditures by immediately stopping other payments to the executives and other vendors for at least a month, in order to keep money for the workers. Others made other attempts to manage the situation. Some significant observations are quoted below:

“We tried to make the payment through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) transactions, but it was not feasible for many workers, as their literacy rate was so low that they didn’t know how to sign—instead, they used their thumb impression. So, it would never be possible to use NEFT transactions for garden and factory workers. Only executives got their salary through NEFT.” [M1]

“We contacted the Dooars Branch Indian Tea Association (DBITA), which is the liaising authority with the Tea Board, government, and other bodies, to see if they could do something. They organized an official meeting with the local district magistrate, block development officers, and workers’ union representatives. DBITA wanted the payment sheet with all the details of each and every worker and tried to make a special arrangement with the bank. But it did not happen, as the branch of the bank was too small to cater to the whole population around it.” [M2]

c) Most-affected workers. According to the participants, some workers encountered more difficulties than others. The first such group was those workers who had to open new accounts, since they had to spend days in the bank instead of working at the garden, and lost those days’ wages. Secondly, even those workers who already had a bank account would spend days standing in the long queues to withdraw their salaries. Thirdly, workers who wanted small amounts of money for daily spending had to go to the bank more than once to withdraw money, as they did not have any place to safely keep their salary at home. Finally, elderly female workers of the tea gardens were badly affected, since they did not have the social support to help them with these issues. One significant observation is quoted below:

“The single old women, those who did not have anybody at home, they were weeping helplessly. They couldn’t understand what do to. Because everybody was busy with their own money deposition and exchange.” [TGW1]

d) Reactions to change. Tea garden workers were surprised by the sudden introduction of demonetization when they learned about it on the news on the evening of 8 November 2016. They felt that they were not well-prepared for this sudden change and realized that it would put them into conditions of acute economic hardship. They felt helpless, as they resided in remote areas where access to banks is a big problem, since few banks are located near tea gardens. Even managers were clueless about what to do, especially regarding the restrictions on money withdrawal. They stated that, although this move was well-intentioned, the infrastructural logistics should have been put into place before action was taken. Some such observations are quoted below:

“After demonetization, when everybody was completely perplexed, we arranged one meeting with the workers to redress grievances. The most common responses we got were ‘Why should we work if we are not getting paid?’, ‘Who will take care of my children’s tuition fees or my father’s medicine?’, and ‘How will I get paid if I am not at my work?’ and I tried to counsel them not to worry, as this will be all right.” [M1]

“The move of demonetization might have been successful if the proper infrastructure was there. The implementation and the practice is often more complex than the theory.” [M2]

“As the cash part of the wage was distributed among garden workers weekly and monthly, it was not possible to stop the cash disbursement system for wage distribution all of a sudden.” [M1]

4.2 Organizational consequences

As a working organization, tea garden workers receive their wages according to the work done, in terms of the amount of tea they pluck; tea gardens adhere to a “no work, no pay” model. During demonetization, workers spent many days standing in queues in front of banks to exchange their demonetized currency, open new accounts (for those who did not have one already), and withdraw money. Their forced absenteeism caused a loss of wages as well as decreased productivity for the tea gardens. Many workers resigned from their jobs in search of other potential work with more easily available money because of the uncertainty that ensued in the tea garden industry.

a) Absenteeism. As previously described, after demonetization, tea pluckers spent several days queueing at banks and missing work. Since under the Plantation Act of 1951, tea garden workers are daily wage earners, the lost days were counted as zero-production days, and therefore they lost their wages for absenteeism. The following quotes are examples of their mindsets:

“Today, I go in to withdraw money. I leave to collect the money from the bank, but finally, when my turn comes up, the money has been finished by that time. I have to go again tomorrow and take leave and lose the wage. I lost 3–4 days’ wages for the purpose of money withdrawal.” [TGW1]

“After standing in the queue at the bank for more than 8–9 hours, we used to miss the daily wages.” [TGW12]

b) Intention to leave. Participants described their feelings of insecurity due to irregular payments, uncertain job prospects, and the inability to take care of their families. Some tea pluckers reported that they had seriously considered whether to continue their work at the tea garden or shift to other jobs where they could earn some money, even a lesser amount, at the earliest opportunity. The following quote is illustrative of this mindset:

“We felt there is no advantage earning money, because we were not getting our money that we had already earned anyway.” [TGW2]

c) Resignation. Some workers, due to job insecurity, stopped working at the tea garden and migrated to other menial jobs outside the garden. The following quotes illustrate this:

“At least 5–10%workers migrated post-demonetization.” [M3]

“Many people stopped working due to uncertain wages and moved out for other sources of income where they could earn some money, though a limited amount, without having a bank account.” [TGW2]

d) Reduction in productivity. As reported by tea garden managers, overall performance was compromised. The tea pluckers were in hurry to go to the banks, and the absenteeism was one indicator of reduced production.

“We compromised the production of tea due to rampant absenteeism.” [M2]

4.3 Workplace interpersonal relationships

During the cash crunch days, the interpersonal relationships among the workers within the workplace appear to have been unaffected.

a) Peer-to-peer relationships. Participants revealed that at the workplace, they tried to maintain good peer-to-peer relationships. They elaborated various reasons behind these attempts. The difficult scenario brought about by demonetization proved to be a bond due to the common hardship they were facing. They were already stressed with the economic uncertainty, so they did not have time to worry about the added stress of other issues. Thus, they had to complete their work without resorting to any kind of argument with co-workers. The only conflicts reported were outside the workplace, such as when standing in queues in front of banks. The following quote describes the workers’ perspectives on this point:

“There were no reports of clashes with colleagues during that period of demonetization, as everybody was suffering from the same problem with the cash crunch. We shared our stress with colleagues.” [TGW10]

b) Relationships with managers. Tea pluckers mentioned that they tried to maintain a respectful approach not only towards fellow workers, but also towards their managers, and often shared with them about their mental exhaustion and tension after the demonetization. Most workers recognized that their managers were trying to help them out. However, occasional verbal fights with managers were reported. The following quote is an example of this situation:

“The workers got in fights with the managers for not supplying adequate money timely, but the managers were helpless. It was not their fault, either.” [TGW17]

4.4 Work–family interface

Workers reported how the external tension of the cash crunch affected their domestic environment.

a) Relationship with partner. Participants shared that fights with their spouses was inevitable. All respondents, including doctors and managers, rep-orted this kind of problem. During post-demone-tization, these women’s plight forced their men to go out and get a job, which led to fights. The following quote depicts this:

“We got into fights with our husbands. We pressurized them to go look for jobs. But we needed money for our livelihood.” [TGW1]

a1) Domestic violence. Sometimes, domestic fights resulted in unpleasant outcomes, as female workers reported to the management about physical abuse by their husbands.

“The fight with our spouse was inevitable. I got beaten by my husband as I asked him to find a job.” [TGW5]

“ . . . alcoholism, with locally brewed ‘hariya,’ has a definite impact on the physical, mental, and social health of workers. Most cases of domestic violence are coupled with alcoholism.” [C2]

b) Relationship with children. Tea pluckers rep-orted that the education of their children was the most important priority. They tried hard to meet their children’s needs in this regard. Some had to cut down on other expenses—even meals—to carry on their children’s education. They also reported that they sometimes became irritated by the external tension and scolded and shouted at their children without reason. The following quote is typical of the workers’ attitudes about this issue:

“It was much concern for us, as our children missed school due to the failure to give them money for bus fare and tuition fees.” [TGW8]

4.5 Psychophysical symptoms

The participants collectively reported various mental and physical symptoms after demonetization and began visiting health centers more frequently.

a) Sleeping disorders. Many of the pluckers mentioned that they could not sleep during the first two weeks of demonetization. They had to think how to manage all the expenses with almost no money, and some of them had to wake up very early to queue up in front of banks. The following quote provides a clear illustration of the workers’ mindsets:

“It caused a lot of tension. We have to give 60 or 70 INR to our children per day for their studies. In a month, we only earn 3,000 INR. How could we manage with that amount, as we need to spend, we need to save, for education, for treatment, we need to think for all issues. We couldn’t sleep or eat in those days.” [TGW2]

b) Malnutrition. Participants described that after coming back from the bank after spending all day in the queue and taking care of necessary tasks, they did not feel like eating or cooking. They were exhausted from their all-day suffering at the bank. Some stated that they felt no appetite, as they knew that they could not afford an extra meal apart from lunch and dinner. The following quote describes one example of this:

“We cooked two times instead of three times because of insufficient cash for buying the food grains. Anyway, we could not afford to be hungry!” [TGW4]

c) Stress and anxiety. It was mentioned how difficult it was to cope with the additional economic stress and anxiety, as the workers were already in stressful conditions with low wages, multiple spending, and loosing job. The following quotes are examples of their mindsets:

“Sudden demonetization made our lives miserable. My father got admitted for cerebral stroke, but due to having the old demonetized notes, he was refused treatment from the nursing home authority, which resulted in his death at home with no treatment.” [TGW1]

“A few workers fainted while standing in the queue for hour after hour and got admitted to the hospital of the tea garden.” [TGW10]

d) Blood pressure variations and dizziness. Certain symptoms were commonly reported by both tea pluckers and clinicians, such as fluctuations in blood pressure followed by dizziness.

“After the news came, my blood pressure increased suddenly. I felt very heavy-hearted. I wasn’t able to work properly. I came here to a doctor for BP measurements.” [TGW2]

e) Lack of confidence. The participants described, as a consequence of economic stress and the anxiety of non-payment, that eventually they developed low self-esteem and that they were losing confidence day by day. The following quotes illustrate this phenomenon:

“Sometimes, we felt very low, and life seemed meaningless.” [TGW4]

“We got insecure, as we didn’t have money for tuition fees for our children.” [TGW1]

5 Discussion

This research aimed to provide an exploratory investigation of the psychosocial consequences of the Indian demonetization on tea garden workers. The results show that the demonetization process led to short-term effects on tea garden workers’ health and well-being.

The study supported the findings of prior literature stating that demonetization caused an economic contraction, of which rural people—especially those among the wage-dependent laborer class, urban lower class, or informal working class—were the worst sufferers [15, 40].

India is, as a matter of fact, still dependent on agriculture and allied activities in the informal sectors. In most of the tea gardens in the Northeast (West Bengal), more than 70%of workers are casual or seasonal in nature and already living in economically unstable and stressful conditions [13 , 41].

As depicted by other studies [15 , 42–44] people’s lives and the economic activity of the poorest people in the Indian economy’s informal sector, particularly in the unbanked districts, were so much disrupted [45, 46] that they were willing to change their financial situation and leave their present locations for new jobs [47].

Intention to leave and resignation were, in fact, identified as organizational consequences of demonetization for tea garden workers. Standing in queues for the exchange of currency or for the opening of new bank accounts was difficult and created tension, as confirmed by other reports [40]. Consequences of this situation were absenteeism, since many workers could not go to work sites while standing in queue in front of banks [48] and a reduction in productivity, confirmed by the GDP growth decrease reported by the Central Statistics Office [42, 47].

This study relates to previous research on how economic hardship increases the risk of psychological consequences, such as depression, anxiety disorders, irritability, and domestic violence [23 , 43–45].

The psychological burden has a tangible cost for tea garden workers, making their lives very difficult with respect to short-term as well as long-term consequences, as they are pushed towards more imp-overishment with the debt cycle and loss of wages.

With respect to gender issues, the mostly woman-centric workforce is already living with the denial of social security at the workplace and burdened with responsibilities, as many of their male counterparts are chronic alcoholics and unable to work [30, 32].

This study highlighted the relative conditions of the female workforce of tea gardens, and how they have worsened due to the sudden introduction of demonetization and the accompanying socioeconomic changes. Interpersonal difficulties with spouses were exacerbated as a consequence of the stressful workplace environment, although women workers did receive tangible support from coworkers and supervisors, which is recognized to have protective value [26 , 49].

The garden workers were also deprived of an adequate diet [23, 27] essential when working such a strenuous job [50]—which was aggravated due to lack of cash inflow in post-demonetization period. Moreover, previous studies have shown that sustained economic hardship results in poorer physical and psychological functioning [12, 51].

Finally, it emerged how workplace interpersonal relationships were not affected during the economic turmoil, which may be considered as a protective factor. Although health is a community-based venture provision, the key determinant of a healthy community is the well-being of the individuals in that community, especially when considering tea garden workers.

6 Conclusions

In India, psychosocial health in the workplace is a developing area of study. This trend reflects the fact that all stakeholders should strive to sustain the highest attainable health status, inclusive of the work environment, social interplay, and an economically productive life. In the tea industry, where suboptimal wages and other stressful work conditions already existed, demonetization was a heavy blow for tea garden workers. Any government-driven policy needs to have proper planning such that the consequences of its implementation are considered for various sections of the society. An equity-driven policy-making process would have avoided the aforementioned psychosocial consequences among tea garden workers. Also, a properly paid workforce can better wit-hstand economic shock, which was not possible with the already economically compromised tea garden workers. There is a need for stakeholders in the tea industry to improve the basic workforce structure, including the health service system, to address the physical and mental health-related issues that can arise from situations such as the demonetization crisis.

7 Strengths and limitations

The current research offers a preliminary contribution to the literature on the effects of demonetization on the tea garden work environment. There are, in fact, several research articles on the impact of this phenomenon, both short-term and long-term, but mainly focused on the economic issues. The qualitative approach employed in the present research provided instead the chance to see the phenomenon of demonetization through the lens of the workers who suffered the most from these consequences. The research techniques used provided opportunities to the participants to reflect on their own experience, to share their own perceptions and to give their own meaning to what happened. Thus we consider it was appropriate to use the template analysis method given its highly flexible approach.

This study has nevertheless some limitations. Initially, it was intended to cover four districts, but the sudden political turmoil made the situation too difficult, as all the tea gardens in the Darjeeling, West Bengal area were closed. Thus, the tea gardens sampled in this study were limited to those with same ownership.

Secondly, a quantitative approach to investigating the pre–post-demonetization situation, using validated survey tools, would have also answered the research question, but this approach was not feasible because of the sudden nature of the demonetization event and the complete absence of any data on the psychosocial health of tea garden workers which could have been used as a baseline for such a design.

Finally, it is important to bear in mind that although a qualitative research design can be very useful as an exploratory tool, its results cannot be considered generalizable.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The present study is derived from a dissertation project submitted for the 5^th edition of the Turin School of Development’s Master in Occupational Safety and Health.

The authors would like to thank Professor Daniela Converso and Professor Sujoy Dass for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the work that helped to improve this paper. The authors would also like to thank Professor Santanu Tripathi for his support for ethical clearance from the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

Tea garden workers are indicated with the letters TGW, clinicians with the letter C, and managers with the letter M.

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