Goa is a paradise with a price tag. But sadly, the bill is not being paid by those in power—it’s being footed by the people. The so-called “Rome of the East” is buried under a mountain of debt to the tune of ₹33,756 crore. Yet we should have been basking in the glory of being a ₹50,000 crore economy. What happened? Simple. Goa is suffering from a chronic ailment — a lack of vision rooted in Goa, for Goa, about Goa.
Let’s get this straight: no other state in the country has the natural, cultural, and strategic capital that Goa possesses in such a compact area. From pristine beaches to world heritage monuments, from bustling tourism to untapped agricultural potential, from a thriving diaspora to an educated youth — Goa should have been a model state. Instead, what we have is a borrowed vision, implemented with borrowed money, driving us further into a debt trap.
And the blame lies squarely at the feet of Goa’s political class. Many of our elected representatives suffer from a peculiar disease — they think of Goa as Delhi, Mumbai, or worse, Singapore. Their eyes sparkle when they speak of building casinos, malls, and coastal highways, but they turn glassy when you mention sustainable farming, heritage tourism, or educational reforms rooted in our own culture.
If only our political leaders spent half as much time understanding Goa as they spend dreaming about Gurugram-style concrete jungles, we would not be in this mess. A state that should be milking the golden goose of tourism, culture, heritage, clean energy, and agriculture is instead chopping its neck in the hope of more golden eggs. It doesn’t work that way. You don’t dig up a well hoping water will gush out instantly. You plan, farm, irrigate, and wait.
But our problem is deeper — we want instant coffee solutions for issues that need slow-brewed policy thinking.
Take tourism. Goa gets over 80 lakh tourists a year — that’s nearly five times its population. Yet, what do we have to show for it? Beaches drowning in garbage, roads cracked under overuse, locals alienated from their own villages, and a tourism economy that largely benefits outsiders and not Goans. Why? Because we never sat down and asked: What kind of tourism does Goa want? Cultural? Eco-friendly? Spiritual? Or drunken chaos on the beach?
Instead of becoming the Kyoto or Florence of India, we’ve allowed ourselves to become the backyard rave capital of South Asia.
Our ports could have turned Goa into a maritime economic hub. Our film festivals could have birthed a parallel cinema economy. Our unique Indo-Portuguese architecture could have made us the conservation capital of the country. But what did we do instead? We built casinos on rivers, malls on fields, and allowed mega projects to gobble up green lands while throwing peanuts at local communities.
Is it any surprise that while Goa’s debt has increased nearly five times in the last 15 years, its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth has plateaued? From 2006 to 2024, Goa’s debt ballooned from ₹6,000 crore to over ₹33,000 crore, and yet our employment generation remains dismal, our agricultural contribution negligible, and our exports nearly stagnant.
The tragedy of Goa is not that we are a poor state. The tragedy is that we are a rich state behaving like a poor one — because our leaders think like landlords and not statesmen.
They want fast returns, five-year legacies, headline-grabbing projects, and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. But real progress — like reviving mining responsibly, supporting agro-tourism, creating Goan-centric curricula in schools, building local manufacturing units — all of that is considered boring, too slow, or too “anti-development” for their liking.
You see, there’s a fundamental difference between growth and greed. Growth thinks in decades; greed thinks in the next election.
Even the Central Government’s fiscal support to Goa has been significant — over ₹15,000 crore in various grants, schemes, and infrastructural aid since 2014. But what has been done with it? How much of that has truly translated into long-term economic value for Goans? Why aren’t Goan youth leading in tech, green energy, design, or marine innovation? Because we never invested in capacity. We invested in cosmetics.
And let’s not even get started on the bureaucracy. Files move slower than monsoons over Panjim. Permissions are a labyrinth. Entrepreneurs are discouraged. The bureaucratic mindset is still colonial, treating Goans as subjects, not citizens.
So where do we go from here?
First, we need political leaders who are deeply rooted in Goan soil — not just by birth but by vision. Leaders who understand that Goa is not a canvas for Dubai-style experiments but a living, breathing cultural and ecological miracle that needs nurturing, not exploitation.
Second, we need to get serious about fiscal responsibility. Cut the fat. Eliminate waste. Invest in real sectors — agriculture, fisheries, education, cultural tourism, small-scale manufacturing, and research.
Third, and most importantly, we must demand accountability. As citizens, we must ask: where is the roadmap for Goa 2030? Where is the blueprint for economic value creation that benefits locals, not just large corporations?
We need a vision for Goa, of Goa, and by Goans. Not borrowed dreams, not copy-paste policies, and certainly not fantasies of turning Margao into Manhattan.
If we don’t shift course now, we will not only kill the golden goose — we’ll lose the farm, the eggs, and the future. And then, Goa will not just be in debt. It will be in mourning.
