Goans deserve a new Opinion Poll and without a doubt almost everyone will say they want change. A system of governance that people respect, trust and can rely on when hard times hit. The pandemic and its financial blows are not over and helpless people have to deal with the drastically changing weather patterns that climate change is causing too. Mai Goem deserves the best care our assets can buy and right now the best democratic governance is WEGo.(Well-being Economy Governance)
Jacinda Ardern, the youthful PM of New Zealand, who once spent a week with the indigenous Kiwi tribes to better understand their problems and demands, is the best advocate for this system. On being hailed for her work to include empathy in governance, she said: “I try to view it from the lens of children, of people and the most basic concept and idea of fairness. As a minister, if you want to spend money, you have to prove how you’re going to use it to improve intergenerational well-being. We’re hoping to embed on what the public is actually asking for: how to improve societal well-being and not just our economic problem.”
NZ fared exceedingly well during the COVID 19 pandemic. The economy of wellbeing emphasises the balance between the three dimensions of sustainable development — social, economic and environmental sustainability. In the economy of wellbeing, public resources are allocated for improving people’s wellbeing. In the long run, the sustainability and stability of society will improve.
The latest member of this little club is Finland, best known for its stellar universal, empathy-based learning construct. The Finns had prudently joined Iceland, Wales, Scotland and New Zealand to best prepare for any future pandemics/untoward climate-change events, while other nations focus on getting back to unsustainable “business as usual”.
The informal WEGo members track their progress according to certain established guidelines using IT and these are concepts completely applicable in Goa. Local experts had come up with ‘Goa: Vision 2035’, a socio-economic roadmap prepared on the lines of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness model but the plan was shelved. The CM had twice spoken about reviving the plan at Liberation and I-Day speeches.
One WEGo,s Wales, which boasts of having the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner. Sophie Howe, a mum of six, is tasked with keeping all Welsh political parties on the straight and narrow. The eventual winner, as mandated by the Future Generations Act, has to govern while ensuring that the protection of the environment, intergenerational equity and kids’ futures are always at the forefront. With an eye on the potential changes, Howe’s team is enacting measures to work with challenges and convert it all into a profit. Using surplus public funds, they are launching initiatives to prempt crime rather than punishing delinquent behaviour. They provide kids in at-risk, low income housing neighbourhoods with educational aids and mentoring with the industry’s best; their mandate includes setting up parks and green spaces using the arsenal of present day IT to speed up governance.
