Slashed perks among factors affecting mental health of Assam’s tea garden executives
A study from Dibrugarh University indicates that the loss of historical colonial-era perks is contributing to significant mental health stress among tea garden executives in Assam. These executives face increased pressure from industry deregulation and environmental challenges.
Why it matters
It highlights the intersection of historical labor structures, modern corporate stress, and the decline of traditional industry benefits in post-colonial economies.
Slashed perks, handed down from the era of British planters almost a century ago, are among the factors affecting the mental health of executives in Assam’s tea estates, a new study has revealed.
British entrepreneurs started commercial production of tea, a popular beverage among some indigenous communities for centuries, in Assam 200 years ago. Their plantations entailed, for all levels of executives, luxury bungalows, recreation clubs, golf, and other perquisites to kill boredom in areas far from home.
The scenario changed a few decades after India attained independence from British rule in 1947 . Industry deregulation, government policies, and taxes on privileges affected the perks across more than 800 large tea estates, which experienced extortion by extremists, global market slumps, and climate change-related complications.
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