SWNOVELXO Chapter 778: 1663
In the blink of an eye, it is January of 1663.
Several months have passed since the research for the new generation of weaponry began, and the researchers have made great progress in some of the weapons. For example, the Dhanush 61, modelled after the Springfield 1861, has had several breakthroughs in recent months from the researchers of Shastra Innovations, a research firm funded and owned by Commander Narasimha Nayak. There were only a few more important components that had to be designed, after which Dhanush 61 an advanced Rifle, that would be the staple of the special forces of the empire, would be ready for manufacturing and mass production.
Apart from Dhanush 61, there have been several breakthroughs in the Teeragni Carbine research project as well. With the full attention and focus of the Vyuh Strategic Solutions Research team placed on Teeragni alone, the progress was very satisfactory.
Minor breakthroughs and progress have been made in Simha Astra, Ashva Teer, Gaja Natha, Indra Krodha, Vajra Kundala, Jal Rakshak, Jal Astra, and Bhima Astra as well. In at most a few years, all these weapons should have completed their research and should be ready for manufacturing and mass production.
Apart from the development of the new generation of armaments, the research on a new type of steam engine by Hey Ram has finally made a breakthrough. When Vijay told him what he wanted, he did not tell him how to do it; he only explained a vague concept he had in his mind. So, Hey Ram, for the longest time, didn't find a suitable place to start the design for the new type of steam engine.
However, after recruiting several scientists proficient in mechanics, as well as reluctantly recruiting Naveen Bhatt, he finally had an inspiration to build the first experimental prototype of the new steam engine after quickly sketching it down.
Far away in Yudheya Nagari, on the campus of the Takshashila Institute of Human Exploration, Balagangadhar is continuously running tests with different types of oils to see which produces the most amount of energy per gram.
The 1.5.0.8 Flight Project has reached a bottleneck, since a suitable fuel couldn't be found that exists in liquid form. However, all the researchers had not given up hope and continued to search for the most suitable fuel. They have even started blending different oils extracted from various plants, whose oils aren't even commercially available, to see if they could make a successful discovery.
Vijay, sitting in the Simhasana Bhavana, reading the progress of all the major research projects going on in the empire, is very happy. The living standards of the people in the Bharatiya Empire have increased to another level, with both spiritual and materialistic needs being fully met, especially with the fulfilment of spiritual needs, which were previously completely absent for most of the population in the past. Enlightened sages and the higher class fulfilled their needs by hosting cultural events or getting lost in the bliss of God. But with the modern era setting in and people wanting more, the Bharatiya Empire has perfectly met these needs through various easy-to-access entertainment products.
Sports leagues, which host tournaments five times a year—such as the Bharatiya Premier League, Unity Football Bharat, Pro Kabaddi League, Pro Rugby League, Ultimate Cocoa, and other local sports tournaments—have made 1662 yet another big year for the sports sector in the Bharatiya Empire. The revenue generated has once again surprised countless people in the empire.
Economists like Abhijeet Kumar sen expected that the sports industry would grow at least 25% per annum, but looking at the results of 1662, the revenue generated has completely surpassed the predictions by a whole 30%.
The difference between the revenue in the sports sector in the years 1661 and 1662 was a whopping 55%, with a mind-boggling revenue of nearly 62 million Varaha, outperforming the estimations by a whole 10 million.
Apart from the sports sector, other entertainment activities had seen massive growth as well. For example, the literature sector, more specifically the mass literature sector focused on catering to the mass audience, has seen huge growth.
With the popularization of simplified writing for the vast majority of people by Her Majesty, many newspaper companies, including the Bharatam Daily of the royal family, have started to include a chapter of the best-selling novels in the market daily to increase newspaper sales.
Not only that, with the gradual popularization of Chitrakala among the young and teenage audience, several media companies have also released their own Chitrakalas. For example, Yodha Chitrakala is a new Chitrakala released by Bakshi Media Corporation, owned by textile tycoon Arjun Bakshi.
With the help of the Times of Bharat and other newspapers as an advertising platform, Yodha Chitrakala, a Chitrakala book completely focused on martial arts fantasy and fan fiction, has recently gained huge popularity among the male audience of the empire.
In some regions, it has even started to outperform the original Chitrakala released by the Raya Media Corporation.
However, no one in the royal family is unhappy about this because media companies, at the end of the day, are only platforms used to reach the market, and no matter who has the platform, for the royal family, it only means that there are more ways to get to the market.
As time goes on and as Bharatiya society becomes more and more urbanized as well as educated, law and order have begun to feel more and more important, and consequently, intellectual property rights have begun to be taken more seriously.
In the beginning, when intellectual property rights—such as copyright, patent rights, geographic indicators, and trademark rights—were established, they could only be strictly monitored in urban areas of the Bharatiya Empire, while rural regions could not be controlled. But now, with the complete privatization of education, more of the Bharatiya Empire is getting educated, and with the complete privatization of law universities and lawyers, the number of lawyers, as well as other white-collar employees like doctors and others, is beginning to be cultivated at a very fast speed throughout the empire.
With drastic development in education, intellectual property rights have also gained more prominence, thereby making it harder for people to steal art or to blatantly proliferate the piracy of art, and proportionally making it easier for a good artist to make a living—even a high-quality one at that. Because with the development of IP rights, one form of art could be transformed into different forms of art, giving the artist several channels for income.
For example, the most successful recent epic of the empire, the Bahubali trilogy written by Her Majesty Kavya Devaraya, is the most profitable book in recent years—not only because of the sales from the book but also from the revenue it has generated by publishing its chapters in daily newspapers, turning it into a two-dimensional Chitrakala, and selling its drama adaptation rights as well as music adaptation rights to various artists and drama companies.
As time passed, instead of becoming less profitable, the series has only become more profitable.
Apart from the spiritual satisfaction that could be found in the Bharatiya Empire in this era—driven by various innovations in the entertainment industries—the material satisfaction is not any less.
The Bharatiya Empire has yet to fully tap into the resources it has in its control, but what little resources it has extracted have already contributed immensely to the empire's economy.
The gross domestic product is at an all-time high. The jump from 1659 to 1660 was seen as a big difference, but the jump in GDP from 1660 to 1662 can't be explained in words. Between the two years, the empire's economy grew by 5 billion Varaha, bringing the GDP of the empire to roughly 15 billion Varaha.
Even the stock exchange has been very lively. The only stock market in the empire, the Mangaluru Stock Exchange, has risen in value from 1.2 billion Varaha a few years ago to now finally crossing the two billion Varaha mark, with total listed assets reaching over 5 billion Varaha.
Additionally, with the sudden influx of minerals into the Bharatiya Empire due to the further popularization of the steam engine in mining, industrialization has taken another step forward. The middle class, which used to be only 20% of the population two years ago, has already reached 27%, while the aspirational class has been reduced from 78% to 69%, with the high class increasing by 1.8%, making the high class 3.8% of the whole population, and the elite class increasing by 0.1%, making the elites 0.2% of the whole population.
The reduction of the population from the aspirational class by a whole 9% made Vijay extremely happy. You have to know, 9% does not seem like much on paper, but in actuality, 9% is a whopping 17 million people.
That means that between 1660 and 1662, extreme poverty was eliminated for as many people as there were population in a 21st-century European country like the Dutch in his past life.
Granted, it is still a little slow if he has to compare himself with the feat achieved by a certain someone in the 21st century—alleviating extreme poverty for more than 250 million people. But being in the 17th century, he is limited in productivity. However, Vijay is not too worried since, with the opening up of the frontiers, the aspirational class has more opportunities for growth and more ways of improving their lives.
Overall, this is bound to be a very good year for the Bharatiya Empire. If he is not mistaken, the six frontiers in Australia should be opened up shortly, giving his people more opportunities. And if he could use the resources of Australia, he could finally fully develop the economy of the northern part of the empire. What's more, if Hey Ram succeeds in developing the new type of steam engine in a few years, the industrial heart of the Bharatiya Empire could be directly moved from the southern part of the empire to the northern part, where most resources are concentrated and where there is a larger space for expansion—unlike the south, where industrial cities are already showing signs of congestion.
P.S. Hopefully I write another today
P.S. Thanks Lucifer_6671, for the Inspiration capsule