What's the point though? There were 2 options. Pay the equivalent of $10 USD or dig graves. AKA make poor people dig graves.

Plus, the article says it was only 8 people which won't have any actual impact.

I can't imagine any rational person thinking this would be effective. "Oh, I'm digging a grave for someone who has lived 3x more than me." If that were successful nobody would smoke, drink, eat bad food.