LEGACY ||Indian Historical Fiction||

19|| NEVER AND ALWAYS

Vaijayanti sat on a creaking but stable chair in a large but dingy room. The only source of light was the lit fire torches that were placed on the walls, three feet away from each other. The rock table faintly reflected the light, illuminating the other members sat at the meeting.

Vaijayanti sat as the head of the table. The first two people on either side of the length of the table were Hiranmayi and Chavi. The rest was followed by the ministers, common folk of the capital, and at the very end, sat two men almost sunken into the darkness as no light reached them, adding to the mystery, they wore black clothes.

"Let the meeting begin." Vaijayanti spoke and Hiranmayi nodded. She turned towards the rest of the council.

"Let's begin with finance." She said her dancer-like face filled with authority.

The finance minister of Swarnonnata, shunned by the king, stood up and bowed to the Queen, "Maharani, the treasury is more than halfway full. Gold and silver make up most of the currency collected as tax. The markets are in their normalcy, no gain or loss. This is no mean matter to the economy. It will soon collapse and go into a recession."

"What do you suggest, Hiranmayi?" Vaijayanti asked. Hiranmayi thought for a while and cleared her throat. She shot a look at Chavi who seemed invested in the topic.

"I believe we should increase the tax. This will lead to people spending more. The treasury will fill up and can then be used for developmental uses." Hiranmayi rested her case. Chavi scoffed. While she knew Hiranmayi was smart...it seems she was smart only in dancing.

"I beg to differ." Chavi raised her hand. She earned a modest nod from Vaijayanti. "Doing what Acharyaa said would only result in infrastructural development, not economic development. I believe we should lower the taxes. When you increase taxes, people start saving more because they spend much on the taxes already."

"Elaborate, girl." The finance minister asked, quite intrigued.

"It's very common. When people save more, they spend less, correct?" Chavi leaned back ready to have a back and forth with the finance minister.

"Yes."

"When people spend less, the production of goods-"

"Reduces."

"When production reduces, the wages paid to the employees reduce as well?"

The finance minister lowly gasped in realisation, "And when the income of people decrease..."

"Their savings decreases." Chavi smirked and rested her case. She looked at the Queen, "I believe you should lower the tax rate. Particularly to one sixth of the income of people."

"But isn't one sixth too less?" Vaijayanti asked.

"It's only less as long as the income of the people is less. One sixth of the income a person earning in hundreds is far too less than that of a person earning in crores, isn't it?

"It's by far the best plan we've devised, Maharani." The finance minister penned down the scheme enthusiastically. Vaijayanti nodded.

"Then I'll make sure it's carried out at the earliest." Vaijayanti smiled at Chavi, "the next case please..."

Hiranmayi looked at Chavi who had a victorious smile etched on her face. Her face fell and gazes averted the moment she met eyes with Hiranmayi. It was replaced by an anxious pair of eyebrows. Hiranmayi scoffed and returned to the meeting. Chavi internally cursed,

"Damn you, Darsh. Why did you have to teach me all this?"

•••

The next morning, Darsh sat down on his throne before all his core members of the court, discussing the progress in the kingdom. In Ishani's abscense Rajat began mentioning the facts sharply.