Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

The year-end meeting was still going on in the Bharatiya Parliament, but the events that happened on the first day of the summit were already made into headlines and spread throughout the empire by the Bharatam Daily newspaper.

"The southern part of the empire is colonising the northern part. Read more about this shocking claim from Minister Narasimha Modi, an elected MP from Jamnagar, Solanki Puri."

People were immediately in an uproar. It was the first time that their worldviews were challenged so directly by someone.

"Hey Krishna, what karma! I am used to seeing my husband come home with a lot more salary every month, and my living conditions continue to improve. I also see the northern labourers working hard for a few hundred Varaha per month. Until now, I hadn't thought anything of it since it was how things were, but now Mr. Modi has opened my eyes. Being a Sanathani, is this how we should live?" a housewife when asked by the interviewer, answered indignantly.

Several readers who read the interview nodded their heads in agreement as they too empathised with the struggles of the people from the north.

"Before His Majesty the Emperor inherited the throne, weren't we also in the same straits? Now is it right for these young boys to work so hard, breaking their backs for only a measly 150 Varaha?"

"That's right, it's too cruel. The Prime Minister really should do something about it."

Some labourers who had been fortunate to migrate very early to the south, like Indra and Manju of Mirzapur, who had not only left their previous jobs as mill workers but also founded a company, Indramanju HR Pvt Ltd, that provides human resources to construction companies, making use of their ground-level knowledge back in the north, got very emotional and even felt tears streaming down their cheeks. Although they did not feel like they were being oppressed by the business owners in the South, they still felt immense gratitude for the Southerners who stood up for people like them.

However, the response was not unanimously positive.

"Thu, shameless! Despite waging a war for them, these people don't have loyalty at all."

"White-eyed wolves, all of them! They bite the hand that feeds them."

"These northerners are too much."

What is even more unfortunate is that such comments were actually mild, since only these were accepted to be printed in the newspaper. More extreme slurs or discriminatory remarks were made in reality. Although it did not lead to any physical altercation due to the strict police supervision, it did lead to a clear rise in dissatisfaction with northerners in the southern part of the empire.

The people from both sides of the argument debated it out wherever and whenever the topic was brought up: tea stalls, function events, panchayat, and other places.

The matter got so big that even Abhijeet Kumar Sen, the leading economist of the Bharatiya Empire and the director of the Economic Department in the Bharatiya Institute of Technology Hoysala, made a brief comment.

"If we look at it objectively, all the dissatisfaction we are seeing in society and the problem that has arisen, the cause is actually no one but time."

"We simply did not have enough time span to gradually integrate and adjust with each other. Instead, because of the policies of the government, integration was too rapid for anyone to process. Yesterday, the world was as I knew it, but today the world has expanded several times over, and suddenly the world has over 100 million people. This is hard for anyone to accept. I believe all the problems we are seeing are just a result of the integration. Although no major issues have arisen due to the excellent decision-making of the leaders, some sequel are Inevitable."

Then he went on to share his opinion of whether the southern part of the empire is treating the northern part as a colony, as objectively as possible, while considering the undeniable bias of the government and the understandable infrastructure issue brought by the destruction of the foundation by the Mughals in the north, and then finally he ended with a note:

"People may think 150 Varaha isn't enough for anyone to live, but everyone has forgotten that 150 Varaha today is worth one gold Varaha of the Vijayanagar Empire. You know, I still remember my childhood, where a single gram of gold was enough to make you one of the affluent families in the village, not to mention the Gold Varaha. Several acres of land could be bought with it."

"Most consumers of the newspaper, the majority of them, are people of the urbanised society who have already forgotten everything other than their cities and towns."

"150 Varaha may not be enough for a person living in tier one, two, or three cities, but for a person living in a town or a village, it's more than enough to not only feed himself but also his family of two or three and have a little change leftover." Stay connected with empire

"All in all, I believe the way the northern part of the empire is developed is slightly problematic, but when considering the bigger picture, It is not too bad."

With the statement from the professional, people began to think rationally and took more things into consideration apart from what they simply could see.

Surprisingly enough, Arnav Sharma, after covering the year-end summit, took it upon himself to find out how much truth there was in economist Abhijeet's words.

So he decisively took a month's break from his job, went to a rural village deep in Satawahana, and spent the entire month with only 150 Varaha in his pocket. To his surprise, his spending, which would be called extravagant according to the villagers in the village he lived in, was only 70 Varaha, and that was adding to the three people he was feeding. He was left with 80 Varaha.

This news, when reported, caused a huge sensation in the empire, and the vast majority of people started to realize that they had become disconnected from society.

Vijay was dumbfounded when he realized that because of this one report, Arnav Sharma inadvertently pointed out the over-materialistic lifestyle of people living in cities and urban areas. What left him helpless was that BIT Babas, graduates of the highest pedigree universities, leaving their affluent lifestyle behind and becoming sadhus, were brought to the 17th century.

Vijay couldn't help but laugh, comparing the IIT Baba of the future in Kumbh and the BIT Baba of the present.

---

Bharatiya Parliament

the Minister of Education, Raghavendra Bhatt, is giving his report.

"The number of universities had increased from only half a dozen 6 Years ago to 20 BIT Universities, one per each state."

"Six years ago, the empire could produce only around 5,000 graduates per annum, but we have come a long way. We just hit 150,000 only a few months ago, and I am happy to announce, due to the privatization of universities under the University Privatization Act 1659, there are currently 1.5 million aspiring university students in the empire."

*'Clap' clap clap clap*

Loud applause rang out in the Parliament Hall.

Raghavendra waved his arms, calming everyone down. "Before, the kids graduating from college had nowhere to go if they were not the best of the best, but now, with more options, these kids have a brighter future."

"Talking about college, there were only around 5,000 college graduates in the whole empire a few years ago, but now, as of 1660, there are a whole eight million college graduates, with 3,400 government-run colleges throughout the empire, which are growing by dozens each passing day."

"As per the school students, there were about 1,020,000 a few years ago, but now there are a whole 27 million who have passed the school level, and the number of schools has increased from last year's 12,000 to a whole 62,000."

"I have some data which I am happy to announce."

"A total of 99% of all school kids pass their middle school, and a total of 80% of kids enrolled in school reach high school. Although the number who pass on the first try is less than 70%, I am still happy to tell you that over 95% of all school graduates who have graduated on their first try are applying for colleges."

"And this cycle continues, setting a very good and healthy precedent for the empire."

*'Clap' clap clap clap*

It could be seen that education is highly supported in the empire.

Raghavendra put down the notes he was holding and looked towards Vijay.

"Your Majesty, I'd like to pass a bill in the parliament."

Vijay nodded, "Go ahead," with a smile at the corner of his lips. He was curious to see what the bill was about.

Vijay was soon given a copy of the bill. When he read it, he was a little surprised. His eyebrows were raised, but this time he did not immediately sign the bill. Instead, he wanted to see what the opinion of the parliament was.

The ministers in the parliament immediately realized that they had to make a choice this time, so all the gazes were focused on Raghavendra.

Raghavendra Bhatt did not have any stage fright. "Ever since His Majesty established the Bhartiya School of Chess, I realized that a simple course in BIT universities would not be enough to train professionals in specialization. The Medical University further proves my point."

"Only a few hours ago, respected Minister Bhuvan passed a bill on the liberalization of justice. I don't have to say the advantages of this bill, since Minister Bhuvan had already discussed it in depth."

"So, the problem I found is, how are the law firms supposed to tell if an intern is worth training or not? Until now, all the lawyers were employed by the empire, so it did not matter since the government could spend money lavishly in order to find law talent among the university and college graduates using the large-scale fishing approach."

"But is this still possible for private law firms? They have to be responsible for their own profits or losses, after all."

Bhuvan had a thoughtful look on his face since he had not considered the issue.

"Minister, then what do you suggest? Do we repeal the bill and reinstate the old management model?"

Raghavendra immediately shook his head. "That's too drastic. Just because you choked on rice doesn't mean you would stop eating it, would you?"

"The reason I brought up the matter is I believe I have a solution, which is the core functionality of the bill that I propose."

"From now on, private universities in specialities can be established. For example, anyone who has passed college examinations can choose if they want to take the orthodox route, like joining the BIT University or any other tier 2, 3, 4, Prime universities, police, military academies, or, if they know what they want to do, they can directly study in the special universities."

"For now, I propose a University of Law, a University of Business, a University of Agronomy, a University of Animal Husbandry, a University of Art, Music, and Literature, and finally, I propose a University of Culinary Arts."

"Finally, I want to make it clear that it is best if these universities are established by private individuals according to their needs. The Ministry of Education will only act as a regulatory board responsible for setting standards and ensuring that no one's interests are being compromised."

The last point cleared most concerns of the ministers since if the government was not going to run these universities personally, then they did not have to worry about the loss brought by the specialized universities. For all they cared, until proven effective or profitable, as far as they could see, the bill proposed by the minister was a burden to the empire.

So, after a lengthy debate, the parliament agreed to pass the bill, with over 75% saying yes, 15% remaining neutral, and the remaining 10% saying no to the bill.

In the end, Vijay finally signed the bill, making it legal, and Bhuvan ended up owing Raghavendra a huge favour.

P.S. Ill try to wrap it up in the next chap