Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

25th March 1660

All the advantages brought by specialized universities were made into headlines and spread throughout the empire by the Bharatam Daily newspaper.

The people of the empire, who received two big pieces of news back-to-back, were very excited. The political situation of the Bharatiya Empire suddenly became very lively. This scene was even noticed by the foreign delegates who had been stationed in the Bharatiya Empire.

They could feel that a big change was about to take place. Their hearts were beating rapidly for no apparent reason. Placing their hands on their chests and feeling the rhythmic heartbeat, they could only hope whatever was coming next would not be detrimental to them.

Bharatiya Parliament

It was the last day of the year-end summit, and the day started off with the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, taking centre stage.

Looking around and not seeing the old Agriculture Minister, an image of an old man with his hands and feet caked with mud appeared in his mind. Vijay gestured for Ganesh to come over.

"Hasn't Narasimha gotten any better?"

To Vijay's disappointment, Ganesh shook his head. "Unfortunately no, Your Majesty. Ever since he was admitted to the hospital a month ago, his situation has actually worsened. He may not last long."

Vijay nodded with a sombre expression. Even though he thought that Narasimha was too conservative when it came to policies, it was undeniable that he was one of the most hardworking, experienced, and incorruptible cabinet ministers of the empire. But sadly, there was nothing he could do. The medical technology of the empire despite being in the 17th century, had already advanced to a highly developed level.

Considering the discoveries of penicillin, morphine, and other compounds, the medical technology in some aspects could even be compared to that of the 20th century. Even if such technology could not save the old man, Vijay really couldn't do anything for him. Not to mention, Narasimha was already very old when he joined the ministry, making him the oldest minister of the empire. Remembering Raja Logananda Senapati, who was also bedridden, Vijay's mood was not very good.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who had a downtrodden expression on his face, started off by paying respects to the Minister of Agriculture, Narasimha. After a few minutes of silence, he began his report.

"A few years ago, under the leadership of Minister Narasimha, the Ministry of Agriculture reached coverage of over 50,000 villages in the southern part of the empire, occupying over 60% of all villages. However, as of 1660, after the integration of the northern part of the empire, we have coverage of over 130,000 villages, out of which 55,000 are from the north."

There were mostly nods of approval from the ministers, but Narasimha Modi, the MP of Jamnagar, suddenly raised a question. "Why has the coverage only increased by 55,000 villages? That's barely making a mark considering the absolute size of the northern part of the empire. Which raises the question I have been asking since the year-end meeting started: is the government being biased against us northerners?"

"This guy..."

"He's singing the same tune once again, like a broken orchestra singer."

"Damn, who invited the guy?"

Shivraj shook his head in denial and lifted his hand, gesturing with two fingers while he calmed down the murmurs.

"Two reasons. Number one: We can only provide services to villages—like harvester services, renting out farming equipment, selling high-quality seeds for cheap, giving farming advice according to local conditions after lab testing, and other things—if there is a road connecting the village. Otherwise, it is pretty much a pipe dream."

"If the only requirement is spreading agricultural knowledge that we already have, then we have done this, and the coverage could be more than 70% of all the villages in the empire, with the number still increasing."

"Even now, only major towns have been connected to the road network, and the building of roads to villages has been pending. In such a situation, accessing these villages is too difficult, and I'm not even making these claims without any basis. A couple of years ago, in 1658 to be precise, we tried to ignore these inadequacies of the insufficient road network and set up an agricultural office in a rural village that was only a few kilometres away from the town road network. Sadly, we found out the hard way that establishing an office was easy, but maintaining it was the most difficult part. We simply couldn't provide all these services to the villages as promised—not at the same price at least. "

"It took 5 hours longer for tools and machines to arrive, causing a loss of money and time. We have done an internal calculation: for a harvester to arrive at a village with a road network, it takes 100 Varaha in transportation charges and a little over 1,000 Varaha per month in maintenance. However, in the village where we conducted the test, the transportation charges alone cost upwards of 200 Varaha. Due to the lack of infrastructure for quick transportation, we had to stop the operation of the harvester every first week of the month, which significantly increased the maintenance charges every month."

"For such expensive overhead costs, the ministry would have to rent out the machine at prices at least 40% higher to break even. Such prices are simply not affordable for rural villages, where people have barely seen a gold Varaha in their lives. More importantly, if we were to continue running the business at a loss, the Ministry of Agriculture would soon become a sinkhole for the government. We do not want to waste the empire's resources unnecessarily."

"And point number two: for the last few years, the Ministry of Agriculture has extensively invested a lot of money in increasing the yield of grain in the empire."

Modi nodded. "Then what is the result?" he asked as he looked at Shivraj with scrutiny.

"A few years ago, out of 90 million acres of total cultivated land, the grain output was over 12.2 million tonnes, with yields per acre dropping as low as 150 kg per hectare.

However, now, out of 150 million acres, using large-scale farming technologies, pH measuring technology, Food chain theory, and other new innovations, the output last season was over 75 million tonnes, with yields of 500 kg per hectare. That is an increase of more than 300 percent.

And finally, the number of warehouses to store the grain has increased from 1,565 in 1665 to over 6,000 in 1660."

Shivraj Singh Chouhan nodded at everyone as he concluded his report and left the stage.

It was Arjun, the Minister of Internal Affairs, who came up next.

"I am proud to announce that the number of police stations in the empire has crossed 25,000."

Clap clap clap clap.

Hearing the first statement alone, applause rang out in the parliament.

"The number used to be only 5,000 five years ago, but now it has increased by 400%."

"As for the number of police officers, it has increased from 90,000 to well over 575,000, with the average number of police officers per station increasing from 18 to 23. Regarding naval assets, it used to be only 25 sloops and two frigates, but now the coastal defences and inland river navy have a total of 120,000 tonnes worth of warships, all inherited from the Bharatiya Navy."

"Plans for the future include changing the standard-issue firearm for the police force and purchasing several custom-built naval vessels for river defences."

"What's wrong with the military-issue Brown Bess?" a minister asked. Discover hidden stories at empire

"There is nothing wrong with it; it's just that they are too powerful for police officers. We do not have to shoot people 100 meters away. More importantly, the maintenance of the Brown Bess costs a lot for the police force. Instead, we are looking for a rifle that is easy to maintain, has decent range and accuracy, and where a compromise in power is acceptable since we do not have to deal with armies wearing armour."

It was the Minister of Trade, Commerce, and Industry, Rajesh, who took center stage after Arjun.

"I can see that everyone is feeling impatient for the delicious lunch that awaits, so I will be very brief."

A few chuckles were heard.

"The total number of companies in 1655 was around 9,000, with exports of over 20 tonnes worth of gold and iron production of over 10,400 tonnes, while steel barely reached 1,000 tonnes."

"Now, five years later, the total number of companies has exploded to over 49,000, with exports increasing to over 110 tonnes, iron production to over 200,000 tonnes, and steel to over 30,000 tonnes."

"More stats include: we have roughly conducted a few hundred million transactions from one state to another, the cement production capacity has reached 10 million tonnes, the glass production capacity has surpassed one million tonnes, and the usage of coal in households has exceeded eight million tonnes. Moreover, the number of companies that have run out of their three-year tax exemption and two-year preferential treatment has increased. Starting from this year, over 9,000 companies will begin paying taxes. Finally, the offices of the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, and Industry have been established in all 20 states."

Clap clap clap clap.

There was nothing to fault in the work done by Rajesh.

The ministers went for lunch excitedly. Arnav Sharma started to take interviews, while Vijay went to a private room to have lunch prepared for him while looking at the document. Meanwhile, the nobles of the empire who had come to see the proceedings of the parliament left to socialize with the ministers.

Moments later, the lunch break was over.

The Minister of Communication, Kumar, took the center stage.

"Six years ago, there were only 4,000 post offices in the empire."

"But now there are over 23,000 post offices. That's at least one post office for every four villages. The number of letters and items we have delivered has increased from 38,000 to 2.6 million, for a total weight of over 35 tonnes. For comparison, it was only around 1.4 tonnes six years ago, generating a total revenue of over 8 million for the ministry."

"Six years ago, the Arkha Dristhi communication channel was not available for the common man, but now in 1660, it has already become a popular communication channel."

"We currently have laid down 26,000 kilometres, connecting over 18 states, with over 7,800 towers and 3,200 stations."

"The revenue obtained from Arkha Dristhi Communication on average is around 50 million Varaha. Last financial year, we earned over 60 million, with most of it being contributed by companies, as we have a package deal with more than 15,000 companies to use the infrastructure whenever needed for a price of 2,000 Varaha per month."

Vijay already knew the impressive data, but once again, he was in a dilemma. He knew that Arkha Dristhi communication could not be privatized, but he also did not have confidence in the Ministry of Communication to be free of corruption. The example of BSNL was right in front of his eyes. "What to do..." he thought. Unfortunately, not being able to come up with a solution, he simply shook his head and decided to move on.

"Forget it, I'll handle the matter when the problem arises."

To be Continued...