Goa, Dec. 15 -- An unsettling reality of a slow-burning crisis of governance is revealing itself in Goa. Until a week ago it was neither dramatic nor visible enough to dominate national headlines, but the Arpora night club tragedy, in which 25 persons were killed, changed that. Goa made it to the international news for, not surprisingly, the wrong reason. It was not the fire that appalled the world, accidents can and do happen, but the fact that the fire and deaths occurred in a nightclub that lacked valid permissions was what shocked. That fact alone added a macabre quality to the horror and this Goa will find difficult to play down, not that it should.

Instead, it should act as a catalyst for change. Governance and corruption issues ha...