PANJIM, Jan. 13 -- Goa Governor Pusa-pati Ashok Gajapathi Raju's announcement of a State-lev-el Happiness Index, made during his customary inau-gural address to the winter session of the Goa Legislative Assembly on Monday, has triggered a wider debate on whether the initiative signals a genuine shift towards peo-ple-centric governance or is merely another symbolic pol-icy announcement.

At a time when govern-ments across the world are seeking to redefine devel-opment beyond GDP figures and infrastructure expan-sion, the Goa government's proposal has been projected as a forward-looking attempt to place citizens' well-being

at the core of policy-making. Critics, however, argue that without addressing pressing governance failures, the idea ...