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DispatchFactbookHistory

by The Federation of Greater Konkan. . 57 reads.

Timeline of major events (WIP)

•1640 - Invasion of Portuguese Konkan colonies by The Kingdom of Keladi and annexation of Canara.

•1641 - Native Hindus, especially the Brahmin and Kshatriya castes in Konkan start a war of independence against the Portuguese Christians.

•1647 - War ends in Native victory. Persecution of Christians begin. Even native Christian converts aren't spared.

•1650 - Native Christians start civil war, calling it war for their rights.

•1680 - War still rages on with no end in sight. Merchants (Vaishyas) and Peasants (Shudras) can't take the strain of war any longer. They open up a third front in the war, to restore peace. Their fighting force is comprised of a large number of untrained peasants, funded by rich merchants who have provided them with muskets. They are led by a few enlightened Hindu nobles, priests and Christian clergy.

•1683 - War ends, with victory for the peasant faction. Shivaji Bhosle, one of the Kshatriya chieftains leading the victorious side is crowned as the first Maharaj of the Kingdom of Konkan. A legislative court is set up, to provide representation to all members of society, from nobles, to priests, to merchants and peasants, of both religions.

•1684 - Religious books of both religions are rewritten such that they are tolerant of each other. Hindu Gods are mentioned as saints in Christianity. Jesus is mentioned as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu in Hinduism.

•1715 - Times are good, maritime trade has made Konkan a prosperous nation. The ideals of the Enlightenment spread to Konkan. People begin to demand more rights, such as that of free speech.

•1742 - Slavery is abolished.

•1753 - A Konkani princess is married to a prince from Palestine and egypt, starting an alliance which exists till the present day.

•1769 - A Maldovian regiment that had travelled east to explore and establish relations with various countries on the way reaches Panjim, the capital of Konkan. They are given a warm welcome by Maharaj Madhavrao Bhosale

•1782 - The first proto industrial textile mill is set up in Bombay.

•1815 - The Industrial Revolution reaches Konkan. Rapid changes in methods of production are taking place. Merchants are buying large areas of land to set up mills and becoming capitalists. Landlords of the nobility are beginning to adopt new farming methods to increase the agricultural output of their estates.

•1857 - The industrial progress and innovation has brought much wealth and military might to Konkan. Maharaj Nana Saheb, known for his military genius, annexes Gujarat and Keladi in two swift wars. They are no match for the Konkani army's superior tactics and guns.

•1910 - Konkan is called into the First World War by its ally, Palestine and egypt.

•1917 - The war is over. However the country is strained by the cost of war. Unemployment is high and businesses are going bankrupt. The Communist Party starts a revolution that is initially successful. They manage to break into the royal palace, execute the royal family and take over.

•1918 - Reactionary elements manage to get the support of the liberals and the nationalists to form the Konkani Saffron Army and start a civil war against the Communist Red Army. The Saffron Army is aided by the Palestinian monarchy.

•1920 - Gujarat and the Keladi secede from Konkan and form their own countries. The Saffron Army doesn't declare war on them, while the Red Army does.

•1924 - War ends with victory for the Saffron Army. Democracy is restored. Much of the royal family being dead prevents the restoration of the monarchy. A military junta is established for a term limit of 3 years under the with the Field Marshal of the Saffron Army as President. It's task is to reorganize the government into a democratic republic and clamp down on remaining communist elements.

•1927 - The Republic of Konkan is established and reconstruction ends.

•1936 - Konkan stays neutral in the Second World War, but sells armaments to its allies.

•1949 - The Arms industry that was thriving in the 2nd World War is on the brink of bankruptcy. Vast amounts of arms and ammunition are exported and smuggled into Palestine and egypt.

•1960 - Keladi is pressured to rejoin Konkan. The government is overthrown in a military coup and a military junta is established once again, with General Augusto Fernandes as the Head of State. His Nationalist Party focuses on building up the military.

•1965 - Konkan goes wages a brutal war against Gujarat and annexes it back. Much of Gujarati industry is destroyed in the process and becomes an agricultural colony after annexation. Assimilation is started to wipe out the Gujarati language and culture.

•1968 - The campaign is over. The country is named the Republic of Greater Konkan.

•1970 - Dictator Fernandes passes away due to a heart attack. His successor, Admiral Sambhaji Angre, realizing the instability caused by his predecessor's death slowly brings back democracy. He gains support from the arms industries who lobby and guarantee victory for his National-Democratic Party. In return he deregulates the economy even further, reduces import tariffs, taxes on corporations and the minimum wage, makes gun ownership compulsory and privatizes services such as healthcare, public housing and the press. But he holds on to the 50% stake in the steel, coal and cement industries owned by the state. After all, he too was power hungry and brought these reforms not out of the goodness of his heart but to make his position more stable.

•1980 - President Angre leaves office after serving two terms. He is replaced by President Vinayak Bhallal, a conservative from the NDP.

•1986 - A scandal over rights of women at work and the wage gap causes the Liberals to quit the NDP and merge with the progressives, forming the Liberal-Democratic Party, which was now a sizable opposition of 27% of Parliament, as compared to the progressives earlier having only 9% and the Socialist Party having a tiny 7%.

•1987 - The Second Labour Movement starts out of dissatisfaction with increased costs of living and a stagnant wage, all while on paper the nation saw record GDP growth rate. The Socialist Party and LDP organize strikes all over the country. It is initially cracked down with brutality, such as harassment of opposition party workers, assassination of labour union leaders and police brutality against protestors.

•1988 - Protests get violent as people take up arms against the police. Nationalists curse the compulsory gun ownership law and suggest a buy back scheme along with wanting to bring in the army, while conservatives wish to grant a few concessions such as increased wages and waiving debt of ordinary people. They reach no compromise and the NDP splits into the Nationalist and Conservative parties. Neither of those have a majority in Parliament and with the LDP refusing to cooperate with Conservatives in a proposed "Centrist Coalition", the government falls and President Bhallal resigns. Fresh elections are called.

•1989 - An LDP and SP combined have 68% of the seat share and form the government, with LDP being the dominant member. Shahid Kaskar, a Progressive of the LDP is sworn in as president, with Anant Pai, a socialist, becomes the Minister of Finance. Wages are steadily raised with support from the conservatives to finally end the protests.

•1991 - Gun ownership is made optional and State owned scrapyards are set up to scrap the guns for steel, and bullets for brass and gunpowder. State owned steel and cement mills are set up in the agricultural "colony" of Gujarat. This raises the government's share of the steel, coal and cement industries to 68%, giving it more control.

•1992 - The smallest of the 3 large weapon corporations files for bankruptcy and is nationalized.

•1993 - The 2nd big corporation is no longer profitable. So the government buys out their share of the healthcare industry and forces them to switch to retail business, in exchange for preventing their insolvency.

•1994 - Socialist Party gets a larger vote share in the LDP-SP coalition and Anant Pai becomes President. This is because credit for the reforms were given to both parties but labour unions on the ground campaigned for SP.

•1995 - The housing market that was dominated by the largest of the 3 corporations crashed when their tenants all over the country organised a strike and refused to pay rent. On going to the courts for getting eviction orders, the case went straight to the Supreme Court seeing how massive the problem was. Under much protests to forgive the rent, the Court requested the Parliament to decide. Finally President Pai's decision was to nationalize all their land occupied by houses. Rent was replaced by a land tax that was far less than the previous rent. Vacant flats got filled quickly as the newer land tax was much more affordable. Expensive luxury flats that were empty got divided up into more modest sizes and were filled up too.

•1997 - Nationalisation of housing was a major hit to the corporation's revenue, and with lack of demand for guns they too were losing a lot of value. Seeing the writing on the wall, they too dismantled or sold their arms factories to the government and invested the money to set up factories that manufactured construction equipment and heavy machinery.

•1999 - These social democratic reforms were very popular and Anant Pai was elected back into office.

2000 - A universal health insurance scheme was started that took on 100% of the medical cost for poor people and slabs from 95% to 50% for people with increasing incomes. At the same time, the entire pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries were nationalised to significantly reduce the cost of treatment. Many of their less profitable hospitals in less populated areas were taken over by the government to provide better service. However some private hospitals especially those specialised in certain fields were allowed to be private.

•2003 - Another labour reform was brought about that merged the roles of union leader and factory manager, and made that position elected by the workers of that factory or workshop. This reform applied to both white and blue collar jobs and other jobs in the service and retail sectors.This reform also generally increased wages and safety regulations.

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