Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

There was a pin-drop silence in the conference room; the blowing of the wind and the rustle of the trees outside could be heard with magnified clarity.@@novelbin@@

All the ministers did not understand most of the things His Majesty had said, but even if they did not understand, they could feel how horrifying those days were.

They began to gulp their saliva and let out a huge sigh of relief because if His Majesty had not gotten rid of the Mughal Empire, then they would have not gotten this chance to finally expand the empire's influence once again.

They now understood why His Majesty wanted to encourage childbirth. Even though the 190,000,000 population of the Bharatiya Empire would make it one of the most populous empires or nations in the world, when considering it with the number of all the Christians and all the Muslims in the world, it was still a little lacking.

Vinod, stroking his stubble, asked, "Your Majesty, for encouraging the childbirth policy, should we provide support for every child that is born in the empire, making it easier on the parents?"

Vijay immediately shook his head. "No, this can never be done, as it will put a lot of burden on the women of the society. Remember, they are not machines, but people. Paying money for every childbirth will be like the government forcing the women to sacrifice themselves for the empire's future. This will not work now or in the long term," he said, his tone resolute and unquestionable.

In fact, Vijay was not too opposed to the idea, but everything had to do with the situation. In the current situation, where the Bharatiya Empire had just started to encourage female participation in a lot of previously male-dominated jobs, he could not suddenly bring out this policy and dampen this movement that was in its infancy.

If the Bharatiya Empire only had a few million people, then he would find using this policy feasible. However, not now, since he ruled a nation with a population of 190,000,000.

Vijay continued, "Making a single woman have 10 or more children for the sake of support given by the government will be a little disgusting. This is not what I want to see."

"Instead of making some people have 10 or more children, what I want is the vast majority of couples having four to five children. This should be achievable, and it will also not be too stressful on the women."

"If everyone follows this line of thought, within 20 years, given that we currently have the agricultural capabilities to feed even thrice our population, the population of the empire could easily reach 250,000,000 or even the 300 million mark."

"Even if we kept the population of the empire at 250,000,000 and let all the other population migrate to regions in Southeast Asia, we would be sending out 50 million people every 20 years out of the mainland, becoming the foundation on which our culture and our civilization will expand to a larger scale and exist forever."

Everyone's eyes lit up. The picture painted by His Majesty was really beautiful, but some were still confused as to how His Majesty wanted to achieve it since he directly denied giving monetary support to the households.

Lokesh, the Minister of Health, enquired curiously, "If not for directly giving monetary support to the families, how could we encourage a couple to have four to five children, Your Majesty?"

Vijay nodded and explained, "This problem could be analyzed in multiple ways."

"But first, can someone answer which class of people are unwilling to have too many kids, and why is that?"

Jagannath Mohan, with a little thought, immediately answered, "Your Majesty, it is definitely the high class and elite class of society because their lifestyle is such that they expect a certain standard for their children to grow up in, and if they have not reached this standard, they will avoid having too many children. Apart from this, there is also the inheritance issue, where too many children will make it difficult for the parents, as their lifelong earnings will immediately be divided into many parts."

"Exactly!" Vijay nodded. "These are the problems that are brought by education. People are more aware that they cannot just bring a new life into the world when they are not ready. But this problem does not exist in the aspirational class of this society and the majority of the middle class."

"Their demands are much simpler. As long as they have food, water, clothing, shelter, and work, they do not mind having more children."

"The Bharatiya Empire is currently in such a position where all of the above-mentioned necessities are readily available."

"So, here's what we are going to do from now. The government will certainly encourage childbirth in all classes of society in the form of newspapers, posters attached to various government properties, and normal word-of-mouth spread by civil servants. Even though this will not have an immediate impact and will not have too much persuasive power, it will still act as a form of communication from the government to make the people understand what our goal is."

"But targeted policies will be formulated in such a way for the aspirational and middle classes of society that, instead of making the people feel that they are obligated to have more children, it will make them feel that raising a child is very simple, making them more willing to have children without anyone telling them to do so."

"I have thought about multiple policies so far."

"Number 1: for the aspirational class and the middle class, the schools will provide food, uniforms, and books free of charge, taking off the burden from the family for two meal times, in the morning and in the afternoon."

"Number 2: In transportation, children born from now on under the age of six will be free of charge, and those under the age of 14 will be charged half the price."

"Nirmal, you will have to network about this policy with all the national transportation departments and state-run transportation departments across the empire. After ensuring authenticity, the government will reimburse the transportation fares."

Nirmal nodded.

"Number 3: Hospitals will treat kids aged six and below from the aspirational and middle classes free of charge and at half price after that until they are 14."

"Again, Lokesh, you will have to come up with a way to ensure the government is not being fooled by fake records."

"Number 4: The income tax for families having more than three children will be reduced by 5%. This is applicable up to five children. Above five children, there is no further increase in tax reduction. We don't want people to get the wrong impression."

"Number 5: Inheritance law is not widely applicable to the class of people we are talking about, but still, people always grow, so it is best to solve this problem once and for all."

"Let's make it so that the person who has earned the wealth and property has 100 percent rights to decide what happens with his money and wealth. Even if he does not want to give the wealth to his eldest son, eldest daughter, or anyone for that matter, it will be constitutional."

"In this way, even if there are five children in the house, the owner can decide whom the wealth will belong to. The government does not have to meddle in the personal affairs of its people."

"However, if it is not personally created wealth but inherited wealth, then all the children of the inheritor will have an equal stake in the wealth."

"Finally, number 6: We can make livelihoods easier for these people by opening up job opportunities in Southeast Asia."

"Each person who is willing to work in Southeast Asia could be granted a certain plot of land free of charge on the condition that he works on the land for a longer period of time."

"If they work in Southeast Asia for a few years, they will feel more comfortable emigrating there permanently," Vijay said.

Everyone was deep in thought. It was a lot to consider, but overall, the plan His Majesty had thought of was very complete. It was just that Jagannath Mohan was a little worried.

"Your Majesty, this might become the single most expensive policy of the empire. The resources based on this policy might reach astronomical levels." Explore more adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

"Do you think we should at least increase the taxation on the high class and elite class of the empire since, like you have said, they will not be contributing to population growth by a lot?"

Vijay thought for a while and shook his head. "No, not right now—maybe in the future, but definitely not now, because these high-class and elite members of society are currently the biggest contributors to the nation's economy. Most of these people are business owners, and since agriculture has also become a business, businesses are the heart and engine of the empire."

"But there is nothing to be worried about. With the opening up of Southeast Asia, we have a lot more channels to bring in resources. What is more, I have already sent the location of a natural port to Archduke Peter. If the Siberian region is opened up to us, then resource troubles will cease to exist. Not to mention, we have Arabia and Africa right next to us. So even if, in the beginning, it will be a little hard on the economy, in the long term, if we maintain our economic growth driven by industrial production, the rate at which money is generated can definitely surpass the rate at which we spend it."

"Maybe at that time, we can even stipulate compulsory national free education for all."

Jagannath Mohan was left in deep thought.

After further discussions, the whole meeting ended by 4:00 PM. Vijay, who was dying to see Kavya, quickly rode a horse himself and galloped to the Shourya Royal Palace—his home.